Heritage Trust Co Purchases Shares of 21,475 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 21,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,221,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after buying an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,768,000 after acquiring an additional 47,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.93.

Aflac Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $104.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.44. The stock has a market cap of $57.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $79.31 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac 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.