Aflac Inc (AFL): Today's Featured Insurance Winner

Aflac was a winner within the insurance industry, rising $1.18 (2.0%) to $60.90 on heavy volume
By TheStreet Wire ,

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Aflac

(

AFL

) pushed the Insurance industry higher today making it today's featured insurance winner. The industry as a whole closed the day down 0.5%. By the end of trading, Aflac rose $1.18 (2.0%) to $60.90 on heavy volume. Throughout the day, 4,692,678 shares of Aflac exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 2,659,100 shares. The stock ranged in a price between $58.89-$61.29 after having opened the day at $59.98 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $59.72. Other companies within the Insurance industry that increased today were:

State Auto Financial Corporation

(

STFC

), up 3.6%,

Global Indemnity

(

GBLI

), up 3.0%,

Crawford & Company

(

CRD.A

), up 2.4% and

MGIC Investment Corporation

(

MTG

), up 1.9%.

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiary, American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. Aflac has a market cap of $28.1 billion and is part of the financial sector. Shares are up 13.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are 9 analysts that rate Aflac a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 9 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates

Aflac

as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its good cash flow from operations, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, increase in net income and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

On the negative front,

Life Partners Holdings

(

LPHI

), down 8.1%,

National Security Group

(

NSEC

), down 6.2%,

HCI Group

(

HCI

), down 6.1% and

Universal Insurance Holdings

(

UVE

), down 3.3% , were all laggards within the insurance industry with

Berkshire Hathaway

(

BRK.B

) being today's insurance industry laggard.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the insurance industry could consider

KBW Insurance ETF

(

KIE

) while those bearish on the insurance industry could consider

Proshares Short Financials

(

SEF

).

3x UPSIDE POTENTIAL: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12-months. Learn more.

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