Simplicity Solutions LLC Increases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Studio Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 471.4% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.2 %

Aflac stock opened at $80.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.47. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.