Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Sigma Planning Corp

Sigma Planning Corp reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 63.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,944 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Aflac by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 216,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,844,000 after purchasing an additional 6,894 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in Aflac by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 53,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,380,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 3,413 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the 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 approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Down 0.1 %

Aflac stock opened at $83.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.91. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $82.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.77. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26.

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

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.