Board of the Pension Protection Fund Purchases Shares of 3,700 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $110.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.48. The company has a market cap of $59.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86. 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 $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

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.