Aberdeen Group plc Has $45.52 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 6.8% during the second quarter, now holding approximately $45.52 million worth of stock.
• Several hedge funds, including UBS and Goldman Sachs, have recently bought or increased their holdings in Aflac, showing strong institutional interest with 67.44% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Aflac's board approved a stock buyback plan allowing the repurchase of up to 100 million shares, indicating potential confidence in the company's valuation.

Aberdeen Group plc grew its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 435,127 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,750 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.08% of Aflac worth $45,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $590,161,000 after acquiring an additional 56,776 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $397,510,000 after acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.8% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $192,441,000 after acquiring an additional 13,575 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.2% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $174,515,000 after acquiring an additional 343,881 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.6% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $178,725,000 after acquiring an additional 99,419 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $110.78 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $59.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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