Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 45,621 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 128.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,621 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Studio Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.36.

Aflac Trading Up 0.8 %

AFL opened at $85.62 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $62.95 and a twelve month high of $86.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.66 and a 200-day moving average of $80.74. The stock has a market cap of $49.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.