Simmons Bank Lowers Holdings in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Simmons Bank lessened its position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,460 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,309 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of UBS Group by 6.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 57,349,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,771,713,000 after buying an additional 3,289,387 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in UBS Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 30,802,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $952,104,000 after purchasing an additional 851,231 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $502,398,000 after purchasing an additional 301,394 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in UBS Group by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,708,623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $423,504,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in UBS Group by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,338,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $224,259,000 after buying an additional 445,876 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

UBS Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UBS opened at $33.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $108.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27 and a beta of 1.16. UBS Group AG has a 1 year low of $26.00 and a 1 year high of $35.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

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