SouthState Corp Sells 7,587 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

SouthState Corp decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 55.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,587 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $108.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $79.31 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.