Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,602 Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $133,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 300,840 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Unum Group by 51.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,961,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $158,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,776 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 291,757 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Unum Group by 89.8% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,207,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,728,000 after buying an additional 571,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Unum Group by 62.9% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,119,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,237,000 after purchasing an additional 432,240 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.57% of the company’s stock.

Unum Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Unum Group stock opened at $59.50 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.77. Unum Group has a 1 year low of $41.75 and a 1 year high of $59.83.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Unum Group had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Unum Group will post 8.48 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 10% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Unum Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 26th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 26th. This is a boost from Unum Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Unum Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Insider Transactions at Unum Group

In other Unum Group news, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 67,795 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.98, for a total transaction of $3,727,369.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,065,868 shares in the company, valued at $58,601,422.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction of $3,727,369.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,065,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,601,422.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy Gerald Arnold sold 10,000 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $541,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,507,464.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UNM shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Unum Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Unum Group from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays assumed coverage on Unum Group in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Unum Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $66.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Unum Group in a report on Friday, September 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Unum Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.80.

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.