Meritage Portfolio Management Buys 2,637 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 75,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,558,000. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,604,000 after buying an additional 100,937 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 353.3% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 11,499 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Aflac by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after acquiring an additional 348,400 shares during the period. Finally, G&S Capital LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 12,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AFL traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $83.80. 978,207 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,262,130. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.71. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week 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. The firm has a market cap of $48.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

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.