Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 2.7% during Q1, owning 107,095 shares worth approximately $11.91 million.
• Aflac reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.78, surpassing estimates, although its revenue fell 19% year-over-year to $4.16 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share and intends to repurchase up to 100 million shares, indicating confidence in its current stock valuation.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,095 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $11,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 24.4% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.5% in the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.4% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,433,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.15.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.1620 on Friday, reaching $108.3520. 2,230,970 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,583,883. The company has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $103.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.84. 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.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

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.