Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Sells 157,386 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 25.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 468,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 157,386 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Aflac worth $52,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Aflac by 155.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 142,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,925,000 after buying an additional 86,741 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth $2,315,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in Aflac by 5.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 234,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,236,000 after acquiring an additional 12,723 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1,184.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,264,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,676 shares during the period. Finally, Credit Agricole S A bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at $19,110,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Aflac News

Here are the key news stories impacting Aflac this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New distribution deal: Aflac announced a partnership with Empower Brokerage to distribute supplemental-insurance products, which should broaden channels for sales and support premium growth over time. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings/fundamentals context: Aflac’s Feb. 4 quarter showed an EPS miss and revenue decline year-over-year; consensus remains a “Hold” with an average target around $111. That keeps analysts cautious and caps upside absent clearer improvement in top-line trends.
• Neutral Sentiment: Human-interest coverage: Aflac ran a feature on a policyholder’s cancer journey (brand/PR positive but unlikely to move the stock materially). Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Director insider sale: Director Charles D. Lake II sold 15,590 shares (avg. ~$109.93) on Mar. 11. Insider sales can be read negatively by the market even if motivated by personal reasons; SEC Form 4 filed. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder trimming: Post Holdings (Japan) has executed several small block sales (multiple ~17k–19k-share trades across Mar. 5–11). Sales are small relative to its >10% stake but add supply and suggest portfolio rebalancing rather than confidence-boosting buying. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity incident disclosed: Media reports say Aflac confirmed a cybersecurity breach; details remain limited. Potential data, remediation costs, regulatory follow-ups or client impact make this the most direct near?term operational risk in the headlines. Read More.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 19,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.96, for a total transaction of $2,141,528.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 52,241,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,796,716,840. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 7,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total transaction of $839,015.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 40,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,602,943.08. The trade was a 15.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 115,777 shares of company stock worth $12,787,908 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $107.00 target price on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, February 9th. Barclays set a $101.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $119.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.73.

Aflac Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE:AFL opened at $108.73 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $111.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.31. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $119.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $56.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.