Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Price Target Cut to $97.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $108.00 to $97.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 31.97% from the company’s previous close.

UNM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Unum Group from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Unum Group from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Unum Group from $109.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Unum Group from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Unum Group from $101.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.92.

Unum Group Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of UNM traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $73.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,727,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,600,569. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.05. Unum Group has a twelve month low of $69.02 and a twelve month high of $96.77. The firm has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The financial services provider reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.04. Unum Group had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Unum Group will post 8.64 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 26th that permits the company to buy back $1 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Unum Group

In related news, EVP Lisa Iglesias sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.44, for a total value of $377,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,453 shares in the company, valued at $2,403,781.32. The trade was a 13.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy F. Keaney sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.02, for a total value of $404,286.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 36,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,431,918.04. This represents a 10.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 10,488 shares of company stock worth $988,396 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Unum Group by 7.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Unum Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $84,097,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Unum Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $58,064,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Unum Group during the second quarter worth about $55,273,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Unum Group by 14.6% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 754,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,089,000 after acquiring an additional 96,123 shares during the last quarter. 86.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Unum Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Unum closed a $3.8 billion long-term-care reinsurance agreement with Fortitude Re, which may help manage exposure to long-term-care obligations. Fortitude Re announces agreement closing
• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted third-quarter EPS of $2.20 topped analyst expectations and increased from $2.09 a year earlier. Premium growth and Colonial Life’s performance helped offset elevated disability claims. Zacks Q3 earnings coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Truist cut its price target to $85 from $96 but maintained a Buy rating. Barclays lowered its target to $101 from $109 while retaining an Overweight rating—both still see upside from the quoted share price. Analyst price-target coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Unum reported a $419.7 million third-quarter net loss, versus $39.7 million in net income a year earlier. The loss included $853 million in investment losses, primarily impairment charges. Reports also flagged reserve-methodology changes and an SEC comment-letter process, adding uncertainty. Unum Q3 results
• Negative Sentiment: Levi & Korsinsky announced an investigation on behalf of shareholders who lost money, citing the quarterly loss and disclosures about the SEC process and reserve changes. The investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing, but may weigh on sentiment. Investigation notice

Unum Group Company Profile

Unum Group is an insurance company that provides employee benefits and related protection products through employers, as well as selected individual policies. Its offerings are designed to help people manage the financial impact of illness, injury, death and other unexpected events.

The company’s products include short-term and long-term disability insurance, group and individual life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment coverage, and supplemental health benefits such as accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance.