Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 136,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,989 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $14,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,526,000 after acquiring an additional 56,975 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 348.3% during the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,145,000 after purchasing an additional 43,293 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,743,000. Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,865,000. Finally, Atlas Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 744,916 shares of company stock worth $87,118,632 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.17.

Aflac Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE AFL opened at $127.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.71. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $130.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Aflac 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.