Ascent Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated by 17.1%, owning 19,986 shares valued at approximately $2.22 million as of the end of Q1.
• Aflac reported a Q2 EPS of $1.78, beating estimates of $1.71, although revenue declined 19% year-over-year to $4.16 billion.
• The company initiated a share repurchase program allowing the repurchase of up to 100 million outstanding shares, indicating management's belief that the shares are undervalued.

Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 17.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,986 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $2,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the first 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. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at $140,746,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 11.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $48,081,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AFL. Evercore ISI reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.58 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $107.58. 3,554,711 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,717,445. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $57.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.90. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. Aflac's revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% 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.