Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.61

Key Points

• Aflac declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, payable December 1 to shareholders of record November 18. The annualized dividend is $2.44, yielding about 1.9%.
• Aflac has raised its dividend for 44 consecutive years; its 34.1% payout ratio indicates the dividend is well covered by earnings.
• Quarterly EPS of $2.43 beat the $1.80 analyst consensus, but revenue fell 31% year over year to $3.27 billion and came in below estimates.

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th.

Aflac has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 44 consecutive years. Aflac has a dividend payout ratio of 34.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Aflac to earn $7.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.7%.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $125.29 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $117.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.05. Aflac has a 52-week low of $105.76 and a 52-week high of $130.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.49 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 17.0% during the third quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 19,036 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,128,000 after purchasing an additional 2,761 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.4% during the third quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 4,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 101.9% during the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 8,916 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,499 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $569,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated NYSE: AFL is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.

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