Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 22.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 281,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 81,280 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $31,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $609,843,000 after buying an additional 1,132,091 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after buying an additional 67,650 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after buying an additional 603,426 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $2.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $120.48. 1,564,457 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,595,919. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $105.43 and a 1 year high of $130.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $116.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.58.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.