McIlrath & Eck LLC Sells 13,099 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

McIlrath & Eck LLC cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 96.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,099 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $47,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $217,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its holdings in Aflac by 25.8% during the first quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 38,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,222,000 after buying an additional 7,898 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% during the first quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas now owns 12,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Bull Harbor Capital LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth about $238,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Advisors MI bought a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth about $695,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $127.53 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.80. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $130.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $64.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total value of $3,249,789.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,898,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,940,362,767.90. The trade was a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total value of $1,441,599.80. Following the sale, the director owned 33,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. The trade was a 27.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 744,916 shares of company stock worth $87,118,632 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.