OneAscent Financial Services LLC Acquires 326 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $163,409,000. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Aflac by 670.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 556,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,572,000 after purchasing an additional 484,378 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Down 8.8 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $101.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $79.31 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $55.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.71.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. On average, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AFL. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.29.

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.