Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $852,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Aflac by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 95.9% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 3,007 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at $94,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,602 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AFL opened at $104.67 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $79.31 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $57.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10.

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

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.