Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Aflac’s stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 48% ownership
A look at the shareholders of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that institutions own the lion’s share in the company with 68% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute.
Let’s take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Aflac.
View our latest analysis for Aflac
NYSE:AFL Ownership Breakdown January 9th 2026
Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it’s included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.
Aflac already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Aflac, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
NYSE:AFL Earnings and Revenue Growth January 9th 2026
Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don’t have many shares in Aflac. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. with 10.0% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 9.6% and 7.3% of the stock. Additionally, the company’s CEO Daniel Amos directly holds 0.5% of the total shares outstanding.
Story Continues
Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company’s shares, meaning that the company’s shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock’s expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Aflac Incorporated in their own names. As it is a large company, we’d only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it’s worth noting that they own US$404m worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
The general public– including retail investors — own 32% stake in the company, and hence can’t easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.
Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.