Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 34,067 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 861,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,067 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $88,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in Aflac by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after acquiring an additional 45,745 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 16.5% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 2,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth approximately $335,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Aflac by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,838,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $110.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. 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 (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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.