Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Hsbc Holdings PLC

by · The Markets Daily

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Free Report) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,151,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 109,182 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $119,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,540,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Aflac by 276.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 39,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,104,000 after buying an additional 29,124 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 111,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,547,000 after acquiring an additional 34,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 133,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,794,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. UBS Group increased their price target on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Two investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.93.

View Our Latest Stock Report on AFL

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $108.28 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.17. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $80.59 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $59.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. 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 (NYSE:AFL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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