Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 197,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,179 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $16,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Aflac by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dominguez Wealth Management Solutions Inc. now owns 24,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.23 on Tuesday, hitting $83.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,764,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,282,132. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $48.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. 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 research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

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.