Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 11,176 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 317,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,176 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $32,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wintrust Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 106,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,678 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 56.7% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 733,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,887,000 after acquiring an additional 265,576 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock opened at $107.44 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $79.31 and a one year high of $115.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $105.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $58.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

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

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.