Guardian Partners Inc. Acquires New Position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,680 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in United Parcel Service by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,597,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,035,313,000 after purchasing an additional 613,409 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in United Parcel Service by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,264,665 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,933,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,058 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in United Parcel Service by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,289,624 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,080,170,000 after purchasing an additional 373,202 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in United Parcel Service by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,627,550 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,448,960,000 after purchasing an additional 380,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in United Parcel Service by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 10,040,863 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,272,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of United Parcel Service in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of United Parcel Service from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $147.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Baird R W lowered shares of United Parcel Service from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $141.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.09.

United Parcel Service Stock Down 1.5 %

United Parcel Service stock opened at $115.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $98.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $120.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.00. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.40 and a twelve month high of $157.99.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.23. United Parcel Service had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 39.13%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.69%. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is 97.04%.

United Parcel Service Company Profile

United Parcel Service, Inc, a package delivery company, provides transportation and delivery, distribution, contract logistics, ocean freight, airfreight, customs brokerage, and insurance services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of express letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States.