Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 486,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,277 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.08% of Aflac worth $40,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $2,866,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 16,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Aflac by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 696,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,430,000 after buying an additional 10,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 37.6% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 15,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 4,152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $84.54 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.82. The stock has a market cap of $48.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results 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). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. Raymond James increased their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Company Profile

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.