Unum Group’s first-quarter operating income increased 6.7 percent from a year earlier and beat Wall Street expectations by 4 cents a share, the company reported Wednesday.

The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based disability insurance provider, which has about 2,900 employees in Maine, reported after-tax operating income of $226.8 million, or 95 cents a share, compared with $224.8 million, or 89 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2015.

Unum’s overall net income for the quarter, including gains and losses on the company’s investment portfolio, was $210.6 million, down slightly from $212.9 million a year earlier.

Unum President and CEO Richard McKenney said in a news release that the company was off to a strong start in 2016 with solid growth in premiums and stable employee benefits payments.

“Additionally, our financial flexibility continues to help create value for our shareholders as we actively repurchased our shares while investing in our future growth with the planned acquisition of Starmount Life Insurance Co.,” McKenney said. “This platform will broaden our employee benefits offerings as we expand in the dental and vision markets.”

During the first quarter, Unum bought back about 3.7 million outstanding shares at a cost of roughly $100 million, reducing the number of outstanding shares to 237.7 million. That number was down from 252.2 million shares in the first quarter of 2015.

Unum trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UNM. It released the earnings report after the market closed Wednesday. The company’s share price increased by about 1 percent during the day’s trading to close at $34.15.