Advisors Capital Management LLC Acquires 711 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 711 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $163,409,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 670.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 556,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,572,000 after purchasing an additional 484,378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock opened at $108.52 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $79.69 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.