Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,167 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Aflac by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after acquiring an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth $948,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares in the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in Aflac by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 273,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,014,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

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 market cap of $60.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a PEG 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.66.

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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the firm’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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased 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. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.