CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) _ Unum Group (UNM) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $153 million.

The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company said it had net income of 75 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, were $1.04 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 98 cents per share.

The insurance company posted revenue of $3.07 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $2.99 billion, which also beat Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.9 billion.

Unum shares have risen 29% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 11%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $29.48, an increase of 94% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UNM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UNM

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