Cerity Partners LLC Has $12.05 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,717 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $12,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $279,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. raised its position in Aflac by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 16,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 3,972 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its position in Aflac by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 42,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,488,000 after buying an additional 1,261 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James upped their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.85.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $80.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $46.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.88 and a 200-day moving average of $81.42. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06.

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

Aflac Company 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.