Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Sells 7,125 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Clark Capital Management Group Inc. reduced its stake in Aflac by 0.8%, selling 7,125 shares, and now holds 853,337 shares valued at approximately $94.88 million.
• Aflac announced a stock repurchase program authorizing the buyback of 100 million shares, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The company's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $1.78, beating estimates, but revenue declined by 19% year-over-year to $4.16 billion.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 853,337 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,125 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Aflac worth $94,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $167,237,000 after buying an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $140,746,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 11.9% in 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 valued at $543,154,000 after buying an additional 556,394 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $48,081,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 133.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $84,329,000 after buying an additional 433,134 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL traded down $0.00 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $106.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 624,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,207,558. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $56.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.12.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company'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 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Company 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.