Sigma Planning Corp Has $329,000 Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 63.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Aflac by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 247,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,032,000 after acquiring an additional 4,653 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 24,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Aflac by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 23,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 349,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $83.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.69 and a 200-day moving average of $81.77. The stock has a market cap of $48.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced 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). The business 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

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.