Advisors Capital Management LLC Has $1.24 Million Position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS - Free Report) by 60.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,885 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 15,477 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in UBS Group were worth $1,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of UBS Group in the third quarter worth $243,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in UBS Group by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,515 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,098,000 after buying an additional 8,069 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of UBS Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in UBS Group by 36.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 104,417 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,228,000 after buying an additional 28,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group during the third quarter worth $391,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UBS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 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 UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded UBS Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

UBS Group Price Performance

Shares of UBS traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.96. 3,102,303 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,275,673. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. UBS Group AG has a one year low of $25.75 and a one year high of $35.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.53 and a 200 day moving average of $32.02.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS - Get Free Report) 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 firm had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.09) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th were given a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from UBS Group's previous annual dividend of $0.23. UBS Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.47%.

UBS Group 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.