Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Has $697,000 Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 525 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Aflac were worth $697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $58.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $79.31 and a 1-year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. Research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

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.