Aflac 2007 Annual Report Download - page 79

A Year of Excellent Investment Returns
for Aflac Shareholders
For the fifth year in a row, the stock market
posted gains, with the Standard & Poor’s
(S&P) 500 Index rising 3.5% for the year.
Insurance stocks, as measured by the
Standard & Poor’s Life and Health Insurance
Index, performed even better, increasing
9.5%. By comparison, Aflac shares
outperformed the broader market and its
peer group, increasing 36.2% from $46.00
at the end of 2006 to $62.63 at the end of
2007. Including reinvested cash dividends,
Aflac’s total return to shareholders was
38.2% in 2007. For the last five years, Aflac’s
total return has compounded annually at
17.1%. And over the last 10 years, our total
return to shareholders has compounded at
18.3% annually, compared with a 5.9%
compound annual return for the S&P 500.
Aflac’s shares have been a source of value to
investors for more than five decades.
Shareholders who invested in Aflac when
the company was founded in 1955 and who
exhibited patience and long-term vision
have been extremely well-rewarded for their
investment. The purchase of 100 Aflac
shares 52 years ago cost $1,110. After 28
stock dividends or stock splits, those 100
shares had increased to 187,980 shares at
the end of 2007, excluding reinvested cash
dividends. As of December 31, 2007, the
original investment would have been worth
$11.8 million. In addition, Aflac’s earliest
investors received $150,384 in cash
dividends in 2007 alone on their original
investment, or more than 135 times the
acquisition price of those original 100
shares.
A Stable Shareholder Base
Approximately 80,000 registered
shareholders owned Aflac shares at the end
of 2007. Institutional investors owned
approximately 68% of Aflac’s shares, with
the balance owned by individual investors.
Directors, employees and agents owned
about 5% of the company’s shares at the
end of 2007.
Committed to Shareholder Service
As a public company, we follow through on
our obligation to all members of the
investment community to provide
transparent and relevant disclosure of
information to help them gain a thorough
understanding of our operations. Our
Shareholder Services Department provides
stock transfer services and administers our
dividend reinvestment plan. On aflac.com,
we provide access to the conference calls we
conduct in conjunction with our quarterly
earnings releases, webcasts of analyst
meetings, our calendar of events, and an
e-mail alert notification service that can
automatically notify investors each time
Aflac issues a press release or files with the
United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). The Investors page of
aflac.com also provides a convenient way to
view, download and print annual and
quarterly reports, SEC filings, quarterly
statistical financial supplements, and
information about our commitment to
corporate responsibility.
Investor Information
Year-end Five-Year 10-Year
Market Value 2007 Annual Annual
Symbol (In billions) Return* Return* Return*
Aflac AFL $ 30.5 38.2% 17.1% 18.3%
Lincoln National LNC 15.4 (10.2) 16.4 7.1
MetLife MET 44.9 5.7 19.1 **
Principal Financial PFG 17.8 18.8 19.5 **
Prudential Financial PRU 42.1 9.7 25.4 **
Torchmark TMK 5.7 (4.3) 11.6 6.2
Unum Group UNM 8.6 15.9 8.3 (6.1)
*Includes reinvested cash dividends **Not applicable
Peer Company
Comparison
Aflac’s total return to
shareholders compounded
at 18.3% annually over
the last 10 years.
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Annual Report for 2007