Pensionfund Sabic Sells 1,800 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Pensionfund Sabic lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 90.8% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $109.14 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.19. The company has a market cap of $58.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.