Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) to Repurchase $1.00 billion in Stock

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 18th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Unum Group Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:UNM opened at $73.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.29. Unum Group has a 1 year low of $48.38 and a 1 year high of $79.43.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.11). Unum Group had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 13.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Unum Group will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unum Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Unum Group’s payout ratio is 17.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on UNM shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Unum Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Unum Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Unum Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $82.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Timothy Gerald Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.92, for a total value of $769,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 54,827 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,292.84. This trade represents a 15.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 58,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.39, for a total value of $4,437,832.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,007,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,917,956.17. This represents a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 78,865 shares of company stock worth $5,952,032. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.