HTLF Bank Purchases Shares of 3,321 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

HTLF Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 76,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,302,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 163.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 16,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 10,302 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in Aflac by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 50,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following 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 accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 2.8 %

AFL opened at $83.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.55.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI downgraded Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Company 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.