Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $692,000 Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Aflac were worth $692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $104.67 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $105.24 and a 200 day moving average of $107.70. The stock has a market cap of $57.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $79.31 and a 12 month high of $115.50. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.