Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 4,890 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 84,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,890 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,768,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 81.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after buying an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of Aflac by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,616,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,239,000 after acquiring an additional 32,220 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.36.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $107.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $58.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a PEG 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 50 day simple moving average of $105.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.65. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current 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.