Bank of Nova Scotia cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,679 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Aflac by 62.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,212 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Aflac by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,787,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $308,268,000 after purchasing an additional 127,487 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,286,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,590,000 after purchasing an additional 72,705 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Aflac by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,753,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,742,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,752,000 after purchasing an additional 58,167 shares during the last quarter. 66.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Aflac Stock Performance
Aflac stock opened at $70.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.64 and a 200-day moving average of $59.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $52.07 and a 52 week high of $70.79.
Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.16% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Aflac Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 14th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 20.41%.
Aflac announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 8th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 2nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 31st. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.75.
About Aflac
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Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates through two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care income support, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.
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