Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,703,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70,244 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Aflac were worth $178,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,161,000 after acquiring an additional 56,776 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 10.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $397,510,000 after acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $192,441,000 after acquiring an additional 13,575 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 26.2% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,515,000 after acquiring an additional 343,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Aflac by 6.6% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,725,000 after acquiring an additional 99,419 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

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 transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $107.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $108.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.86. 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 $115.44.

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

Aflac declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.45.

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.