Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 1,541 Shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,541 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in UNM. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Unum Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,500,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,950,000 after purchasing an additional 55,014 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Unum Group by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 469,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,554,000 after buying an additional 156,380 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Unum Group by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 16,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after buying an additional 5,047 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Unum Group by 89.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 111,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,647,000 after buying an additional 52,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Unum Group in the third quarter valued at about $1,074,000. 86.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Unum Group from $76.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Unum Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Unum Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.83.

Unum Group Price Performance

NYSE:UNM opened at $81.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.83. Unum Group has a 1-year low of $48.38 and a 1-year high of $83.96. The firm has a market cap of $14.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.80.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by ($0.11). Unum Group had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 14.91%. Equities research analysts forecast that Unum Group will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Unum Group’s payout ratio is 17.74%.

Unum Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Unum Group Company Profile

Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial protection benefit solutions primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, and internationally. It operates through Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, and Closed Block segment. The company offers group long-term and short-term disability, group life, and accidental death and dismemberment products; supplemental and voluntary products, such as individual disability, voluntary benefits, and dental and vision products; and accident, sickness, disability, life, and cancer and critical illness products.