Jump Financial LLC Purchases 3,947 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 167.7% during Q1, acquiring an additional 3,947 shares, making its total holdings worth $700,000.
• Aflac reported $1.78 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.07, although revenue dropped 19.0% year-over-year.
• The company recently initiated a stock buyback program allowing the repurchase of up to 100 million shares, suggesting management’s belief that the stock is undervalued.

Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 167.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,947 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $140,746,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position 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. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,081,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 433,134 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $1.69 on Thursday, reaching $108.43. 1,016,948 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,201,997. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $103.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.03.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac 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 value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.