First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Takes $247,000 Position in Upbound Group, Inc. $UPBD

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPBD) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Upbound Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,194,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Upbound Group by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 84,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Upbound Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $239,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Upbound Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 19,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Upbound Group by 578.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 10,883 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UPBD. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Upbound Group in a report on Friday. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Upbound Group in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Loop Capital upgraded Upbound Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Upbound Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Upbound Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $37.25.

Insider Activity

In other Upbound Group news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown purchased 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $22.27 per share, with a total value of $43,448.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 90,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,790.55. This trade represents a 2.19% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ralph T. Montrone sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.23, for a total value of $151,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,239,373.29. This represents a 10.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Upbound Group Trading Down 0.0%

Upbound Group stock opened at $22.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 3.11 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 1.77. Upbound Group, Inc. has a one year low of $19.65 and a one year high of $36.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.84.

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Upbound Group had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 36.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Upbound Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.050-4.40 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.950-1.05 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Upbound Group, Inc. will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upbound Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Upbound Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.64%.

About Upbound Group

Upbound Group, Inc leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Rent-A-Center, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. The company's brands, such as Rent-A-Center and Acima that facilitate consumer transactions across a range of store-based and virtual channels.