ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 197,215 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,781,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 197,215 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.32% of Aflac worth $184,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $163,409,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $285,181,000 after buying an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,310,640,000 after buying an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 34,552 shares of company stock valued at $3,702,552. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded down $0.80 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $105.63. The company had a trading volume of 676,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,989,911. The company has a market capitalization of $57.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $107.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.49. 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 Incorporated has a one year low of $86.46 and a one year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

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.