US Bancorp DE Purchases 19,743 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

US Bancorp DE raised its stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 113,907 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 19,743 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $3,454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UBS. M&G PLC boosted its position in UBS Group by 3.1% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 4,507,947 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $138,593,000 after buying an additional 135,766 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in UBS Group by 81.4% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 111,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,446,000 after buying an additional 50,041 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in UBS Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 45,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its position in UBS Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 512,165 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,831,000 after buying an additional 3,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in UBS Group by 37.4% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 255,672 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,903,000 after buying an additional 69,592 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of UBS Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UBS Group presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Price Performance

UBS stock opened at $34.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $109.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. UBS Group AG has a 12-month low of $26.01 and a 12-month high of $35.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.96.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.90 billion. UBS Group had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 5.93%. UBS Group’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, analysts expect that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This is a positive change from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a yield of 2.1%. UBS Group’s payout ratio is presently 19.08%.

UBS Group Company Profile

UBS Group AG provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-core and Legacy. The company offers investment advice, estate and wealth planning, investing, corporate and banking, and investment management, as well as mortgage, securities-based, and structured lending solutions.