Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 2,992 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 50,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,992 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,558,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Aflac by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,676,000 after purchasing an additional 348,400 shares during the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC grew its position in Aflac by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 12,551 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Aflac by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 376,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,786,000 after purchasing an additional 26,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Aflac by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 48,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 5,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $83.23 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.55. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The stock has a market cap of $47.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its 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). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.