Assetmark Inc. Sells 791,965 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Assetmark Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 47.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 860,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 791,965 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc. owned 0.16% of Aflac worth $96,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $432,201,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 16.7% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,545,000 after purchasing an additional 594,971 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,954,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Aflac by 459.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 701,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,969,000 after acquiring an additional 575,915 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 146.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 772,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,422,000 after purchasing an additional 458,551 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total transaction of $89,407.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,824,298.75. The trade was a 3.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 5,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.53, for a total value of $601,538.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,447.04. The trade was a 12.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,592 shares of company stock valued at $2,844,656. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $119.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Evercore boosted their target price on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays set a $101.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.91.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $115.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $60.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.61 and a 200 day moving average of $109.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.12). Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $4.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.