Northern Trust Corp Sells 102,686 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

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Northern Trust Corp decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,193,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 102,686 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.33% of Aflac worth $799,826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 11.9% during 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 valued at $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $397,510,000 after acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in 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 period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in 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 period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 12,313.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the director directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.1650 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $108.0650. The company had a trading volume of 3,395,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,534,582. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $102.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.84. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $57.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and set 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 upgraded shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. 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 research note on Monday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Company 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.