Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Has $880,000 Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. trimmed its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,798 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,249,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 55,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,745,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 15.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 22,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Aflac by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 90,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,771,000 after acquiring an additional 5,837 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $110.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $110.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 earnings per share 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.