Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,301 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,545,000 after purchasing an additional 594,971 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $432,201,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,187,000 after acquiring an additional 385,546 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,652,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,273,000 after acquiring an additional 124,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Aflac by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,569,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $165,530,000 after acquiring an additional 81,100 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $120.00 target price on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $119.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.91.

Aflac Stock Down 0.9%

AFL stock opened at $114.82 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.34. The company has a market capitalization of $60.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.67. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $119.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $4.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 21.24%.Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 5,492 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.53, for a total value of $601,538.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,447.04. The trade was a 12.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.