Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Shares Purchased by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $5,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of UNM. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Unum Group by 188.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Unum Group in the third quarter valued at $5,021,000. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Unum Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH now owns 14,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Unum Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 12,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Unum Group by 3.1% during the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 37,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.57% of the company’s stock.

Unum Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of UNM opened at $72.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28. Unum Group has a 52-week low of $41.97 and a 52-week high of $73.62. The firm has a market cap of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.02 and its 200-day moving average is $56.36.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. Unum Group had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 13.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Unum Group will post 8.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unum Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Unum Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.18%.

Insider Transactions at Unum Group

In other news, CAO Walter Lynn Rice, Jr. sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total value of $104,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,361 shares in the company, valued at $581,591.16. This represents a 15.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 67,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.98, for a total value of $3,727,369.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,065,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,601,422.64. This represents a 5.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,844 shares of company stock worth $5,411,032 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Unum Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Unum Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Unum Group from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $66.00 target price (up previously from $64.00) on shares of Unum Group in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

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.