Advisors Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 17.3%, holding a total of 69,868 shares after selling 14,576 shares during the first quarter.
• In the first quarter, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 133.2%, while GAMMA Investing LLC increased its investment by an astounding 12,313.9%.
• Aflac has declared a share buyback plan authorizing the company to buy back 100 million outstanding shares, indicating a belief by the board that the stock is undervalued.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,868 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,576 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $865,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AFL. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. 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 report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $106.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,903,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,216,803. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

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

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.