Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP has reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 1.5%, selling 58,705 shares, leaving it with approximately 3,824,667 shares valued at about $425 million.
• Aflac has initiated a stock buyback program that authorizes the purchase of 100 million outstanding shares, indicating management believes the stock is undervalued.
• The company reported Q2 earnings of $1.78 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, but the revenue for the quarter was down by 19% year-over-year to $4.16 billion.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,824,667 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 58,705 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.71% of Aflac worth $425,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Optas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Aflac by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,433,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.2510 on Thursday, reaching $108.1510. The company's stock had a trading volume of 697,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,163,880. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $102.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.83. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year 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 $57.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share 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 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 for the quarter was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.15.

About Aflac

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.