South Dakota Investment Council Sells 4,400 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

South Dakota Investment Council lessened its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Aflac were worth $9,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $84.19. 928,765 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,264,224. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $48.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.68. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction 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 owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company 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.