Chattanooga-based insurer Unum reported higher first quarter net income than a year ago, reflecting a lower tax rate and a corresponding earnings per share growth rate of more than 20 percent.
“The fundamentals of our business remained strong and our overall performance largely aligned with our expectations, with good premium growth and overall stable benefits experience,” Richard P. McKenney, Unum’s chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday.
Net income was
$273.5 million, or $1.23 per diluted common share, for the first quarter compared to $229.9 million, or $1 per diluted common share, a year ago, the company reported after the close of the stock market.
Excluding net after-tax realized investment gains and losses, after-tax adjusted operating income was $275.1 million, or $1.24 per diluted common share in the first quarter of 2018.
The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.25 per share.
The Unum U.S. operating segment reported adjusted operating income of $243.9 million in the first quarter, an increase of 2 percent from $239.1 million a year ago. Premium income for the segment increased 5.8 percent.
Net investment income for the segment declined 4.1 percent to $194.2 million in the first quarter of 2018.
Unum UK reported adjusted operating income of $29.8 million in the first quarter, up
12 percent from $26.6 million in 2017.
Colonial Life reported a 1.7 percent drop in adjusted operating income to $81 million in the first quarter of 2018. Premium income for the first quarter of 2018 increased 6.4 percent to $398.3 million, driven by sales growth and solid persistency, the company reported.
For all of 2018, the company continues to expect after-tax adjusted operating income growth per share to be within the range of
17 percent to 23 percent.
The company’s shares closed Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange at $47.90, down 48 cents per share.