Strs Ohio Takes $2.63 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has purchased a total of 23,617 shares of Aflac Incorporated, valued at approximately $2.626 million, as part of its new position in the company during the first quarter.
• Aflac announced a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share, with a yield of 2.1%, and disclosed a share repurchase plan authorizing the buyback of up to 100 million shares.
• Aflac's recent quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $1.78, exceeding estimates, despite a revenue decline of 19% year-over-year.

Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 23,617 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,626,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 3.5% in the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP increased its position in shares of Aflac by 3.4% in the first quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on 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 target on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5%

AFL traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.55. 1,322,010 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,212,642. The firm's fifty day moving average is $104.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.19. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. 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 has a market cap of $58.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Aflac declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

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.