Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)

Yousif Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 89,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 328 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $4,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UNM. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Unum Group by 583.3% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,025,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,420,000 after acquiring an additional 875,000 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Unum Group by 79.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,952,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,616,000 after acquiring an additional 866,531 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Unum Group by 2,441.3% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 540,082 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,567,000 after acquiring an additional 518,830 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Unum Group by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,545,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,416,000 after acquiring an additional 313,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unum Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,061,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Unum Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Unum Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Unum Group from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised Unum Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Unum Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.38.

Insider Transactions at Unum Group

In other news, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.15, for a total transaction of $2,457,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,076,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,922,409.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.15, for a total transaction of $2,457,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,076,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,922,409.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Steven Andrew Zabel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.06, for a total value of $510,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 122,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,241,880.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 81,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,018,100. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Unum Group Stock Down 1.2 %

Unum Group stock opened at $50.75 on Friday. Unum Group has a twelve month low of $40.04 and a twelve month high of $54.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.82, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.87.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.07). Unum Group had a return on equity of 16.03% and a net margin of 10.36%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Unum Group will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of $0.365 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Unum Group’s payout ratio is 22.50%.

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.