State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $20.03 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 8.9%, holding 180,113 shares valued at approximately $20.03 million.
• Aflac's recent earnings report showed a year-over-year revenue decline of 19% despite beating earnings expectations, with a reported $1.78 earnings per share.
• The company's Board of Directors approved a share buyback plan allowing the repurchase of up to 100 million shares, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,113 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 17,657 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Aflac were worth $20,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 3,318 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 203.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 290,420 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,041,000 after purchasing an additional 194,653 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 19,446 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $205,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $105.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $56.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. 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 approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company 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 yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on 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 cut their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $106.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.54.

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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