Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 82.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 50,701 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two 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 $103.93.

Aflac Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of AFL opened at $106.84 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $79.69 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.41.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.