State of Alaska Department of Revenue Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 80,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,365 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 1.5% during 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 period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Optas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Apexium Financial LP boosted its position in Aflac by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI restated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $111.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $59.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $105.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.25. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.