Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) EVP Lisa G. Iglesias Sells 14,972 Shares

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM – Get Rating) EVP Lisa G. Iglesias sold 14,972 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total value of $674,039.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 63,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,851,251.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Unum Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Unum Group stock opened at $45.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.30. The company has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.09. Unum Group has a 52-week low of $26.33 and a 52-week high of $46.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. Unum Group had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 13.14%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Unum Group will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 27th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 26th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Unum Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.28%.

Unum Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, December 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Unum Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $426,463,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Unum Group by 63.6% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,504,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,752,000 after purchasing an additional 973,311 shares in the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new position in Unum Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,256,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Unum Group by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,681,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $746,204,000 after purchasing an additional 836,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in Unum Group by 412.3% in the 3rd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 845,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,795,000 after purchasing an additional 680,241 shares in the last quarter. 79.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on UNM. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Unum Group from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Unum Group from $42.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Unum Group from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Unum Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, November 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Unum Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.88.

About Unum Group

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Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment consists of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business.