Aflac (AFL) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Aflac shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of March 31st, traders have sold 12,700,000 shares of AFL short. 2.45% of Aflac's shares are currently sold short. Learn More on Aflac's current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. AFL shares currently have a short interest ratio of 6.0. Learn More on Aflac's short interest ratio.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following institutional investors, funds, and major shareholders have reported short positions of Aflac: GTS Securities LLC, Wolverine Trading LLC, Paloma Partners Management Co, Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P., Caas Capital Management LP, Citadel Advisors LLC, Point72 Asset Management L.P., Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC, Balyasny Asset Management L.P., Verition Fund Management LLC, Capital Fund Management S.A., PEAK6 Investments LLC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Capstone Investment Advisors LLC, Allianz Asset Management GmbH, Hsbc Holdings PLC, IMC Chicago LLC, UBS Group AG, BNP Paribas Financial Markets, Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc., Mission Wealth Management LP, Simplex Trading LLC, and Cutler Group LLC CA. These positions are disclosed in Form 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 2.45% of Aflac's floating shares are currently sold short.

Aflac saw a increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,700,000 shares, an increase of 11.4% from the previous total of 11,400,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

Aflac currently has issued a total of 575,410,000 shares. Some of Aflac's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. Aflac currently has a public float of 518,770,000 shares.

2.45% of Aflac's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies compare to Aflac: Centene Co. (1.55%), Humana Inc. (2.04%), Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (0.64%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (3.20%), Realty Income Co. (1.31%), Simon Property Group, Inc. (1.43%), Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (0.01%), Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (3.21%), Manulife Financial Co. (0.42%), The Travelers Companies, Inc. (1.47%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: TC Energy Co. ($4.49 billion), T-Mobile US, Inc. ($3.94 billion), General Motors ($3.34 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($3.32 billion), Occidental Petroleum Co. ($3.21 billion), Super Micro Computer, Inc. ($3.13 billion), Coinbase Global, Inc. ($3.08 billion), Moderna, Inc. ($2.28 billion), Tractor Supply ($2.24 billion), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ($2.14 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling AFL is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Aflac as its price is falling. AFL shares are trading up $0.15 today. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for Aflac occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of AFL, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including AFL, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is March, 31 2024.