Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,992 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $1,558,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after acquiring an additional 348,400 shares during the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 12,551 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 376,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,786,000 after acquiring an additional 26,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 12.7% during the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 48,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 5,477 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Aflac 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $83.23 on Friday. 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 Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $82.21 and its 200 day moving average is $81.55.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.