Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated by 9.2% during the first quarter, now owning 188,345 shares valued at approximately $20.88 million.
• Aflac will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.58 on September 2nd, providing an annualized yield of 2.2% to investors.
• The company's stock has seen interest from several hedge funds, with institutional investors owning 67.44% of Aflac's shares.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 188,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,823 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $20,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 90.8% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $108.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $105.35. The stock had a trading volume of 2,645,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,172,469. The business's 50 day moving average is $102.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.87. The stock has a market cap of $56.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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

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.