Dillon & Associates Inc. Acquires 216 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after purchasing an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $979,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $948,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares during the period. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in Aflac by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 273,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $108.10 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $79.31 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.95 and a 200-day moving average of $107.61.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.