Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC Invests $276,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 24.6% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 21.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 73,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,218,000 after acquiring an additional 12,768 shares during the period. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.9% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 8.7% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 217,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,369,000 after buying an additional 17,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Barclays cut their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $108.10 on Monday. The company 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. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $79.31 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.