Unum Group (UNM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.37 on May 17th

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 12th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be given a dividend of 0.365 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th.

Unum Group has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Unum Group has a dividend payout ratio of 16.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Unum Group to earn $8.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.46 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.7%.

Unum Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNM stock opened at $51.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.59. Unum Group has a one year low of $40.04 and a one year high of $54.57.

Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Unum Group had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 16.03%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Unum Group will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Unum Group news, EVP Elizabeth Claire Ahmed sold 5,000 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,772,500. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Unum Group news, EVP Elizabeth Claire Ahmed sold 5,000 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,772,500. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Mckenney sold 50,000 shares of Unum Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.15, for a total transaction of $2,457,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,076,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,922,409.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,000 shares of company stock worth $4,018,100 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on UNM. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Unum Group from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Unum Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Unum Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Unum Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Unum Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.38.

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.