UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) Short Interest Up 52.5% in February

UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 12,370,000 shares, a growth of 52.5% from the February 13th total of 8,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,000,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UBS Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of UBS Group by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 106,019 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in UBS Group by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 206,803 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,270,000 after acquiring an additional 29,367 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in UBS Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in UBS Group in the fourth quarter worth $354,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 37,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 6,638 shares in the last quarter.

UBS Group Stock Performance

Shares of UBS Group stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $33.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,315,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,166,435. The firm has a market cap of $107.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.06. UBS Group has a one year low of $26.01 and a one year high of $35.84.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $11.06 billion for 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 revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.09) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that UBS Group will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. This represents a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. 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.