Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 52.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 73,873 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,415,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,145,794,000 after acquiring an additional 107,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,888,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,297,000 after acquiring an additional 105,298 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AFL. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Aflac Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $80.98 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $46.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.46.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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. In other news, 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 value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac 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.