Investors Research Corp Trims Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Investors Research Corp decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,415,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,145,794,000 after purchasing an additional 107,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,888,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,297,000 after purchasing an additional 105,298 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Aflac by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Aflac by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after acquiring an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.0 %

AFL opened at $80.27 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.44. The company has a market capitalization of $46.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Raymond James upped their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI cut Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

About Aflac

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.