Insider Selling: Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock at an average price of $102.57, reducing his ownership by 3.83% to a total of 25,105 shares valued at approximately $2.58 million.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.71, but experienced a 19% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $2.32 with a yield of 2.2%, set to be paid on September 2nd.

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

Aflac stock traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $105.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,470,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,551,570. 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 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $56.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $102.53 and a 200 day moving average of $104.87.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given 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 is 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 1,526.7% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $108.23.

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.