Invesco Ltd. Buys 400,694 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,404,933 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 400,694 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $72,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in UBS Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UBS Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of UBS Group during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in UBS Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in UBS Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lowered UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley cut UBS Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Stock Performance

NYSE UBS opened at $28.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. UBS Group AG has a 12-month low of $25.75 and a 12-month high of $35.84.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.90 billion. UBS Group had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

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