Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Declares Stock Buyback Program

Key Points

• Aflac's Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program to repurchase 100 million outstanding shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Aflac, with JPMorgan raising its target to $100 and Barclays setting it at $98, while the stock holds an average rating of "Hold" and a target price of $108.23.
• Aflac has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58, with a yield of 2.2%, set to be paid on September 2nd to shareholders of record as of August 20th.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.23.

Aflac Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $103.55. 3,231,283 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,432,755. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company's 50 day moving average price is $102.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.88. Aflac has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,728 shares in the company, valued at $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,300,075. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Aflac

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.

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