Bailard Inc. Acquires 22,400 Shares of Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP)

Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) by 203.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,400 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Univest Financial were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 64,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,556,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,426,000 after purchasing an additional 130,584 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 158,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 48,922 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 37.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 300,547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,224,000 after purchasing an additional 82,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 64,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on UVSP shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Univest Financial from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $22.00) on shares of Univest Financial in a report on Friday.

Univest Financial Stock Performance

Shares of UVSP opened at $21.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $626.92 million, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.79 and a 200 day moving average of $19.63. Univest Financial Co. has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $22.49.

Univest Financial (NASDAQ:UVSP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.10. Univest Financial had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 14.98%. The company had revenue of $71.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.32 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Univest Financial Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Univest Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Univest Financial’s payout ratio is 35.15%.

About Univest Financial

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations.