Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 18,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,501,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $175,416,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 62.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,865,000 after buying an additional 1,897,212 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Aflac by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,812,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $634,004,000 after buying an additional 1,640,984 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $72,249,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 67.3% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,712,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $119,539,000 after buying an additional 689,173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.2 %

Aflac stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,114,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,243,603. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI downgraded Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value 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. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.