Carret Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)

Carret Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 26.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,765 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unum Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,590,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $931,109,000 after buying an additional 300,840 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Unum Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $590,489,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unum Group by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,687,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,734,000 after buying an additional 163,682 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Unum Group by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,930,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,521,000 after purchasing an additional 73,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Unum Group by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,017,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,225,000 after purchasing an additional 291,757 shares in the last quarter. 86.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unum Group Price Performance

UNM stock opened at $50.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.81. Unum Group has a twelve month low of $41.75 and a twelve month high of $54.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.15. Unum Group had a return on equity of 16.02% and a net margin of 10.52%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Unum Group will post 8.25 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th were issued a dividend of $0.365 per share. This represents a $1.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 25th. Unum Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher W. Pyne sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.47, for a total transaction of $236,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,952,067.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher W. Pyne sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.47, for a total transaction of $236,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,952,067.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy F. Keaney sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.61, for a total value of $420,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 37,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,973,138.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on UNM. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Unum Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Unum Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Unum Group from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Unum Group from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Unum Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.56.

Unum Group 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.