Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 9,682 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 0.0%, holding approximately $5.71 billion in shares, which equates to about 9.41% of the company.
• Aflac's recent quarterly earnings surpassed analyst expectations, reporting $1.78 earnings per share, though revenues fell 19.0% year-over-year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share, representing a yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio of 52.61%.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 0.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,349,980 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,682 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.41% of Aflac worth $5,709,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Aflac by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its position in Aflac by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Aflac by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,433,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.92.

Aflac Stock Up 1.2%

AFL stock traded up $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $103.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,014,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,401,225. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $55.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.83. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $102.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.89.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 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 analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a $0.58 dividend. 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This 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.

Aflac 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.