Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 782,252 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Sterling Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Free Report) by 70.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 325,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 782,252 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $33,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after buying an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,286,042,000 after purchasing an additional 288,482 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $349,699,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,768,000 after purchasing an additional 47,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.93.

Read Our Latest Analysis on AFL

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 0.8 %

AFL stock opened at $104.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $79.31 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Featured Articles

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AFL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Free Report).