Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 12,179 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 197,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,179 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $16,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Aflac by 9.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after acquiring an additional 605,210 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 8,861.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,113,000 after acquiring an additional 444,829 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Aflac by 5.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,953,000 after acquiring an additional 368,704 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on AFL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:AFL traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.75. 1,764,459 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,282,132. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

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.