Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 20,733 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 28.2%, holding 94,239 shares worth approximately $10.35 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Aflac declared a stock repurchase program allowing the company to buy back up to 100 million shares, indicating confidence in the company's stock value.
• The company posted a Q2 earnings per share of $1.78, exceeding estimates, but reported a 19% decline in revenue year-over-year, totaling $4.16 billion.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 20,733 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Aflac were worth $10,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $397,510,000 after buying an additional 349,787 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $192,441,000 after acquiring an additional 13,575 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $178,725,000 after acquiring an additional 99,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $109.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,799,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,210,203. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $58.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $104.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.17. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Aflac's revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value 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 represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.