Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Aflac by 3.4%, owning approximately 464,098 shares valued at $51.49 million.
• Aflac has seen significant changes in institutional holdings, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its stake by over 12,000% this quarter, acquiring 1.5 million shares.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share and announced a new share repurchase plan for up to 100 million shares, indicating a belief in the stock's undervaluation.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 464,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 16,314 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Aflac worth $51,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Aflac by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its position in Aflac by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 158,382 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $16,383,000 after acquiring an additional 9,777 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in Aflac by 110.7% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 3,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 86,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,942,000 after buying an additional 3,842 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.54.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.35. 2,645,887 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,582,534. 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 one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $56.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $102.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.