Whittier Trust Co. Sells 356 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Whittier Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 356 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Aflac by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,611,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 337,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,956,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $132,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $323,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 80,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,468 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $108.10 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $79.31 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $105.95 and a 200-day moving average of $107.64. The company has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac 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.