7,418 Unum Group $UNM Shares Sold by State of Wyoming

State of Wyoming decreased its holdings in shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 78.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,418 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Unum Group by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,084,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,287,000 after buying an additional 292,670 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Unum Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,097,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Unum Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,064,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Unum Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,273,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Unum Group by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 754,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,089,000 after buying an additional 96,123 shares during the last quarter. 86.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Unum Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting Unum Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Despite lowering their targets, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods kept an “outperform” rating at $97 and Truist Financial maintained a “buy” rating at $85. Both targets are above the $76.58 price cited in the coverage. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods target Truist target
• Neutral Sentiment: The earnings-call recap highlighted growth opportunities alongside risks, while a sector outlook identified potential support for accident and health insurers from underwriting exposure and digitalization, counterbalanced by medical-cost inflation and pricing pressure. Earnings call highlights Sector outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Unum’s Q3 report included a $419.7 million net loss, an SEC comment-letter process and a change in reserve methodology. Levi & Korsinsky and SueWallSt separately announced investigations into potential securities claims; these are allegations and investigations, not findings of wrongdoing. Levi & Korsinsky investigation notice SueWallSt investigation notice
• Negative Sentiment: KBW cut its price target from $108 to $97, and Truist reduced its target from $96 to $85. Coverage also reported that UNM shares fell below their 200-day moving average after an analyst downgrade—a technical signal that may weigh on sentiment. Moving-average and downgrade report

Unum Group Stock Down 0.2%

Unum Group stock opened at $76.58 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. Unum Group has a one year low of $69.02 and a one year high of $96.77.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The financial services provider reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Unum Group had a net margin of 1.94% and a return on equity of 12.57%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Unum Group will post 8.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $0.5050 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Unum Group’s dividend payout ratio is 143.26%.

Unum Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 26th that allows the company to buy back $1 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNM has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $108.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Unum Group from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on Unum Group from $109.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Unum Group from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Unum Group from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Unum Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lisa G. Iglesias sold 4,000 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.44, for a total transaction of $377,760.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,403,781.32. The trade was a 13.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Keaney sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.02, for a total value of $404,286.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 36,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,431,918.04. This represents a 10.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,488 shares of company stock worth $988,396. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Unum Group Company Profile

Unum Group is an insurance holding company that provides employee benefits and related services, primarily to employers and their workers. Its offerings include group disability and life insurance, accident and critical illness coverage, and services that help employers manage employee leave and workplace absence.

Through its Unum and Colonial Life businesses, the company also provides voluntary benefits that employees can elect through their workplaces. In the United Kingdom, Unum offers workplace benefits including income protection, life insurance and critical illness coverage.

The company traces its roots to 1848, when Union Mutual was established in Maine.