Heritage Trust Co Makes New $2.22 Million Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 21,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,221,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. TKG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AFL. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.93.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $104.51 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $79.31 and a 1 year high of $115.50. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS 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.