M&G Plc Raises Holdings in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)

M&G Plc increased its position in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 187,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,675 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Unum Group were worth $9,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Unum Group during the fourth quarter worth about $590,489,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Unum Group by 51.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,961,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,776 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Unum Group by 6,498.1% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 636,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,145,000 after purchasing an additional 626,676 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Unum Group by 85.0% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 778,129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,754,000 after purchasing an additional 357,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 during the period. 86.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Unum Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Unum Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Unum Group from $62.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.78.

Unum Group Price Performance

UNM stock opened at $53.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Unum Group has a 52-week low of $41.75 and a 52-week high of $58.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.42.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.14. Unum Group had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.06 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Unum Group will post 8.53 EPS for the current year.

Unum Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 10% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Unum Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, July 26th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. This is an increase from Unum Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 26th. Unum Group’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

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.