BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Sells 14,647 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S has reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 44.6%, selling over 14,600 shares and leaving them with 18,230 shares worth approximately $2.03 million.
• Aflac's quarterly earnings showed a slight beat with $1.78 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.71, but reported a 19% year-over-year revenue decline.
• The company announced a stock buyback plan allowing the repurchase of up to 100 million shares, signaling that its leadership believes the stock is undervalued.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 44.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,230 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,647 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Aflac were worth $2,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. NorthRock Partners LLC raised 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 worth $725,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 worth $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised 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 worth $711,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC raised 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 worth $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.4% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,433,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell 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 $109.15.

Aflac Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AFL traded up $0.1620 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $108.3520. The company had a trading volume of 2,230,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,594,252. The firm has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $103.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 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 the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac 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 transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Profile

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.