Integrated Investment Consultants LLC Reduces Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Integrated Investment Consultants LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 95.6% during the 1st quarter, ending with just 1,848 shares valued at approximately $205,000.
• In contrast, GAMMA Investing LLC has dramatically increased its Aflac holdings by 12,313.9%, owning 1,504,067 shares worth around $167 million after purchasing nearly 1.5 million shares.
• Aflac's board has authorized a stock repurchase plan to buy back 100 million shares, indicating the board's belief that the stock may be undervalued.

Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lessened its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 95.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 39,820 shares during the quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $140,746,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.9% in 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 worth $543,154,000 after buying an additional 556,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $48,081,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $107.8190 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $57.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's 50 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

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

Aflac announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AFL. Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.15.

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.

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