A stock may not be a machine, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't spend some time with its owner's manual. Image source: iStock/Thinkstock.

There are a number of specific details that investors in Aflac (AFL 0.63%) should know about its stock. The slideshow below covers a handful of them, walking readers through a broad but brief analysis of the insurer from a shareholder's perspective.

The slideshow shows, among other things, that Aflac rewards investors in multiple ways:

  • Its shares yield 2.5%, comfortably outpacing the S&P 500's dividend yield of 2.1%.
  • It has bought back $1.6 billion worth of its own stock over the past 12 months, translating into a 5% decrease in Aflac's outstanding share count.
  • And although its shares have slightly underperformed the S&P 500 since the beginning of 2005, Aflac's total return trailed the large cap index by only 9 percentage points over the 10-year stretch.

To learn more about Aflac, scroll through the slideshow below, which is designed to serve as an owner's manual for the company's shareholders.

All data in the slideshow was sourced from YCharts.com on Nov. 30, 2015. Image sources: iStock/Thinkstock, Aflac.