Royal Bank of Canada Sells 261,196 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 19.3%, selling 261,196 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with 1,094,043 shares valued at approximately $121.6 million.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but experienced a 19% drop in revenue compared to the prior year.
• The company has authorized a share repurchase plan to buy back 100 million outstanding shares, indicating that management believes the stock is undervalued.

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 19.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,094,043 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 261,196 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.20% of Aflac worth $121,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 7,790 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 72.0% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 28,331 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 11,857 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Aflac by 47.6% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 22,291 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,188 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,428,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Aflac by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 438,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,775,000 after purchasing an additional 135,214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL traded down $1.01 on Monday, reaching $105.92. 597,361 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,202,622. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.09. 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 Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $56.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's payout ratio is 52.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.15.

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.