Hedge Funds Are Buying Unum Group (UNM)

In today’s marketplace, there are tons of gauges investors can use to analyze stocks. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the financial markets. There are plenty of motivations for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if you know where to look (learn more here).

What’s more, we’re going to examine the newest info for Unum Group (NYSE:UNM).

What have hedge funds been doing with Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 33% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.

According to our 13F database, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the largest position in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM). AQR Capital Management has a $88 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Michael Messner of Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), with a $38.1 million position; 2.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

With a general bullishness amongst the titans, certain bigger names were leading the bulls’ herd. AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, established the most valuable position in Unum Group (NYSE:UNM). AQR Capital Management had 88 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt) also initiated a $38.1 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new UNM investors: Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, and David Harding’s Winton Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading Unum Group (NYSE:UNM)?

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time frame, Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Unum Group (NYSE:UNM). These stocks are PICO Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PICO), StanCorp Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SFG), AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), CNO Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CNO), and Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ). This group of stocks belong to the accident & health insurance industry and their market caps are closest to UNM’s market cap.