OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Sells 3,301 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 14.3%, now holding 19,774 shares worth approximately $2,199,000.
• Aflac announced a share buyback plan allowing repurchase of 100 million shares, indicating the board believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported an EPS of $1.78 in its latest earnings, exceeding the consensus estimate, despite a 19% revenue decline year-over-year.

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,774 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,301 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp's holdings in Aflac were worth $2,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.9% during 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 worth $543,154,000 after purchasing an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $192,441,000 after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $178,725,000 after purchasing an additional 99,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of AFL stock traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $108.61. 1,105,761 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,202,277. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $103.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.03. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $58.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. 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 (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reissued 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.15.

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.