Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Holdings in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 308,601 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,711 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $9,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UBS. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of UBS Group by 41.6% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

UBS Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of UBS stock opened at $33.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $108.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27 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 fifty-two week low of $26.01 and a fifty-two week high of $35.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.08.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group’s payout ratio is 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.