Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Plans $0.42 Quarterly Dividend

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 9th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%.

Unum Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Unum Group has a payout ratio of 16.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unum Group to earn $9.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

Unum Group Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of UNM traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,197,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,131,675. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $72.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.80. Unum Group has a 12-month low of $44.83 and a 12-month high of $77.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $13.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Unum Group had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 13.76%. The company's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Unum Group will post 8.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Unum Group

In other news, EVP Elizabeth Claire Ahmed sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.16, for a total transaction of $320,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,768,822.56. This trade represents a 7.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Walter Lynn Rice, Jr. sold 1,500 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.56, for a total value of $104,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $581,591.16. This trade represents a 15.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 107,914 shares of company stock valued at $7,998,745 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UNM shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Unum Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Unum Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price objective (up from $74.00) on shares of Unum Group in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Unum Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Unum Group from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Unum Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.55.

About Unum Group

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.