Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 1,197 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $99,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the third quarter. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. now owns 24,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.7% in the third 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. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

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

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $83.23 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The stock has a market cap of $47.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.21 and a 200-day moving average of $81.55. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.