Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Acquired by Patten & Patten Inc. TN

Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Aflac were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,768,000 after purchasing an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in Aflac by 81.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Aflac by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,682,000 after purchasing an additional 118,720 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,616,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,239,000 after purchasing an additional 32,220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $107.44 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.68. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $79.31 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays cut their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

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.