Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 49,500 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund sold 49,500 shares of Aflac, reducing its ownership by 26.9%, leaving it with 134,474 shares valued at approximately $14.95 million.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share for the quarter, surpassing estimates, but experienced a 19% decline in quarterly revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.58, with a payout ratio of 52.61%, and a new share repurchase plan allowing the buyback of up to 100 million shares, indicative of perceived undervaluation.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 26.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 134,474 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 49,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Aflac were worth $14,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position 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 increased its position in shares of Aflac by 24.4% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 3.5% during the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 0.4% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,433,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.9290 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $107.8190. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,684,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,484,695. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $102.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.83. 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 (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given 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 is Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related 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 transaction of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI restated 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.