Hills Bank & Trust Co Boosts Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Hills Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 228 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $107.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.69. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $79.31 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the 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 approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents 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 valued at $5,863,616. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.