Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 902 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 902 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 133.2% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,329,000 after acquiring an additional 433,134 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,510,000 after acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.2% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,515,000 after acquiring an additional 343,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 96.0% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,056,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock opened at $110.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $107.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.48. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders 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 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.