Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Purchases Shares of 9,772 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 9,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,087,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $543,154,000 after purchasing an additional 556,394 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,427,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,673,000 after purchasing an additional 36,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,366,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,344,000 after purchasing an additional 26,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7%

Aflac stock opened at $99.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $102.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.09. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $94.87 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total transaction of $290,675.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Three equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.15.

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.