Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,475,001 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,077,199 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.86% of UBS Group worth $840,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in UBS Group by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 206,803 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,270,000 after purchasing an additional 29,367 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in UBS Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in UBS Group during the fourth quarter worth $354,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of UBS Group by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 37,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 6,638 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UBS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America cut shares of UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of UBS Group stock opened at $26.71 on Monday. UBS Group AG has a 52-week low of $25.19 and a 52-week high of $35.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.10 and a 200 day moving average of $32.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. The company has a market capitalization of $85.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57 and a beta of 1.16.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.90 billion. UBS Group had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 6.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio is 14.47%.

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.