Syon Capital LLC Raises Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Syon Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 37.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,152 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth 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 period. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 24.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded down $0.55 on Thursday, hitting $83.73. 1,831,427 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,278,364. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $86.26. The company’s fifty day moving average is $82.53 and its 200 day moving average is $81.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $48.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.88, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is 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.