Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 8.6%, selling 4,593 shares, and now owns 48,835 shares valued at approximately $5.43 million.
• Aflac recently announced a stock buyback plan for up to 100 million shares, suggesting the board believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 19% decline in quarterly revenue year-over-year.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,593 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $167,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $754,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $140,746,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,081,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $105.35 on Monday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $102.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.81. 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 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.54.

Aflac Company 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.

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