Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 127,886,868 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,296,428 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 3.99% of UBS Group worth $3,915,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UBS. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in UBS Group by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,775 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $488,000 after buying an additional 4,889 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of UBS Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 102,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of UBS Group by 3.9% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 9,278 shares of the bank’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of UBS Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,596 shares of the bank’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 3,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in UBS Group by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 220,042 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,801,000 after purchasing an additional 33,089 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on UBS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Price Performance

Shares of UBS stock opened at $32.95 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.70 and its 200 day moving average is $32.17. The stock has a market cap of $105.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68 and a beta of 1.15. 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 twelve month low of $26.01 and a twelve month high of $35.84.

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

UBS Group Increases Dividend

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

About UBS Group

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.