Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 594,971 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $439,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth about $432,201,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $140,746,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,954,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 146.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 772,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,422,000 after buying an additional 458,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 133.2% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,329,000 after buying an additional 433,134 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (up from $102.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.00.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:AFL opened at $109.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $110.35 and a 200-day moving average of $106.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.66. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 14.97% and a net margin of 23.55%. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.29%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, EVP Frederic Jean Guy Simard sold 1,722 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total value of $193,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 1,364 shares in the company, valued at $153,450. This represents a 55.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total transaction of $114,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,692,110. This trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 22,822 shares of company stock worth $2,571,002 in the last 90 days. 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.