Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 181,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,274 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. now owns 24,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its position in Aflac by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $80.27 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $64.10 and a one year high of $86.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.44. The stock has a market cap of $46.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac 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.