Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Purchases 4,111 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 6.4%, owning 67,957 shares valued at $7,556,000.
• Aflac's Board of Directors initiated a share repurchase plan allowing for the reacquisition of 100,000,000 shares, indicating they believe the stock is undervalued.
• According to analysts, Aflac holds an average rating of "Hold" with a price target of $109.15, reflecting mixed opinions on its stock performance.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,111 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec's holdings in Aflac were worth $7,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.7% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in Aflac by 6.0% in the first quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 16,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,827,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.8% during the first quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 7,790 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $866,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 72.0% during the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 28,331 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,150,000 after buying an additional 11,857 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 47.6% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 22,291 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,479,000 after buying an additional 7,188 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. 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 Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE AFL traded down $0.52 during trading on Monday, hitting $106.41. 2,901,664 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,211,451. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.09. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company 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.

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

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.