Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 5,619 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,619 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Aflac by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in Aflac by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 210,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,563,000 after acquiring an additional 1,503 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $428,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lowered Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $80.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $64.10 and a 12 month high of $86.26. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $82.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.47.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts predict 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.