Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Purchased by Assetmark Inc.

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. boosted its Aflac stake by 1.4% in Q4 to 872,618 shares (about 0.17% of the company), valued at roughly $96.2 million.
• Major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 Aflac shares on April 8 for about $18.66 million, and insiders have sold 572,632 shares (~$63.5 million) in the past three months, leaving insiders with 0.80% ownership.
• Aflac missed quarterly estimates (EPS $1.57 vs $1.69 expected; revenue $4.28B vs $4.45B expected), and analysts maintain a consensus "Hold" rating with a $111.82 price target.

Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 872,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,083 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc. owned about 0.17% of Aflac worth $96,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $280,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 150,334 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,854,000 after acquiring an additional 15,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,953 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 572,632 shares of company stock worth $63,514,634. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore raised Aflac from a "strong sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $119.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Mizuho set a $102.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $120.00 price target on Aflac in a report on Monday, December 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $111.82.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $112.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $57.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.66. 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 Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.56.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.45 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 21.24%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Company Profile

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.

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