Bank of Montreal Can Buys 3,480,421 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS - Free Report) by 191.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,296,147 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 3,480,421 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.17% of UBS Group worth $161,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UBS Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,594,066,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in UBS Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,886,868 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,915,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,428 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of UBS Group by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 55,533,620 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,695,087,000 after acquiring an additional 12,609,616 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of UBS Group by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 34,979,795 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,070,335,000 after acquiring an additional 5,555,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of UBS Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 16,751,961 shares of the bank's stock worth $543,936,000 after purchasing an additional 95,712 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on UBS shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UBS Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of UBS Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. BNP Paribas raised UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America lowered UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded UBS Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold".

UBS Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UBS traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.47. 3,697,758 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,265,933. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73 and a beta of 1.16. UBS Group AG has a one year low of $25.75 and a one year high of $35.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.11.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS - Get Free Report) last announced 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). UBS Group had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This is a boost from UBS Group's previous annual dividend of $0.23. This represents a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.47%.

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.