Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Buys 343,881 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 343,881 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $174,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 133.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,329,000 after purchasing an additional 433,134 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Aflac by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,056,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Aflac by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 510,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 189,765 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $110.81 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $105.97 and its 200 day moving average is $105.36. The stock has a market cap of $59.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Company 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.