KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases New Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 297,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,791,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.2% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 6,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 24.6% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.7% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 963,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,688,000 after acquiring an additional 60,762 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 21.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 73,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,218,000 after acquiring an additional 12,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $221,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target 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. Finally, Barclays reduced 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $108.10 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $105.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.63. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $79.31 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

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 year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company 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.