Insider Selling: Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Sells $107,630.00 in Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $104.95 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $79.31 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after acquiring an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after purchasing an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $543,154,000 after purchasing an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,699,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

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.