As many of you already know, the concept of companies returning more and more to their shareholders through various types of dividend-related events is always something that has intrigued me. With that said, I wanted to highlight one particular company that has recently announced a 5.4% increase in its regular quarterly payout.

AFLAC, Inc. (AFL) – On Tuesday, October 28, AFLAC, which now possesses a forward yield of 2.62% ($1.56/share annualized), announced a 5.4% or $0.02/share increase, from its prior payout of $0.37/share, for the upcoming quarter.

Headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, AFLAC Incorporated, through its subsidiary, American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates through two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S.

The company offers various voluntary supplemental insurance products, including cancer plans, general medical indemnity plans, medical/sickness riders, care plans, living benefit life plans, ordinary life insurance plans, and annuities in Japan. It also provides products designed to protect individuals from depletion of assets, which comprise accident, cancer, critical illness/critical care, hospital intensive care, hospital indemnity, fixed-benefit dental, and vision care plans; and loss-of-income products, such as life and short-term disability plans in the United States.

Based on Tuesday’s closing price of $59.54/share, AFLAC, Inc. now possesses a market capitalization of $26.97 billion and a forward yield of 2.62% ($1.56). Its trend behavior, although mixed in both the near-term and the long-term (given the fact shares are trading 3.78% above their 20-DSMA, 0.99% above their 50-DSMA, and 2.69% below their 200-DSMA), should get a boost from its latest earnings report which was released on October 28. Since the company announced a very solid quarter in which it surpassed Wall Street’s expectations of $1.43/share in terms of EPS, I strongly believe we could see its shares reach a sustainable range of $63.00/share-to-$67.50/share by late-November.

Share Repurchase Activity

Included in the company's Q3 earnings release were a number of notes that pertained to AFLAC's share-repurchase activity. For instance, AFLAC had spent $175M (2.9M shares) on share repurchases during Q3, bringing its YTD buyback totals to $690M or 11.1M shares. In addition to its Q3 share repurchases, AFLAC also lifted its FY 2014 share repurchase goal to $1.2B and noted that its 2015 repurchase goal is now set at a very impressive $1.3B.

Conclusion

For those of you who may be considering a position in AFLC, Inc., I strongly recommend keeping a close eye on both the company's dividend and earnings behavior over the next 12-18 months as each of these catalysts should directly impact the long-term value of the company’s shares.