Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Receives $88.29 Average Target Price from Analysts

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $88.29.

Several analysts recently weighed in on UNM shares. UBS Group set a $89.00 target price on shares of Unum Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Unum Group from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Unum Group from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Unum Group from $103.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Unum Group Stock Performance

Shares of Unum Group stock opened at $79.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Unum Group has a 52 week low of $49.63 and a 52 week high of $84.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.26.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by ($0.15). Unum Group had a net margin of 12.31% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Unum Group will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Unum Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Unum Group

In related news, EVP Elizabeth Claire Ahmed sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,093,600. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of UNM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Unum Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,003,918,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Unum Group by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,497,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,496,939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,078 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Unum Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $113,962,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Unum Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $105,199,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Unum Group by 155.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,278,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.57% of the company’s stock.

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.