Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Has $174.52 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated by 26.2%, owning over $174 million worth of the stock as of the latest SEC filing.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share, surpassing estimates, but saw a 19% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58, representing a 2.1% yield, along with a new stock repurchase plan of up to 100 million shares.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 26.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 343,881 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned 0.31% of Aflac worth $174,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 121.9% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac by 90.8% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $110.81 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $59.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $105.97 and a 200-day moving average of $105.36. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Aflac announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

About Aflac

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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