United Parcel Service, Inc. $UPS Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in United Parcel Service by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,136,226 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,274,323,000 after purchasing an additional 999,832 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 7.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,045,472 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,754,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780,807 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 124.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,011,107 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $991,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,988,044 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 0.3% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,415,523 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $815,633,000 after purchasing an additional 23,918 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 3.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,719,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $519,059,000 after purchasing an additional 171,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $100.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $118.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of United Parcel Service in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $114.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.38.

United Parcel Service Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of UPS opened at $86.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.85. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.00 and a 1-year high of $145.01. The stock has a market cap of $73.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.10.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by ($0.01). United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 39.61% and a net margin of 6.34%.The business had revenue of $21.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Parcel Service Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. United Parcel Service’s payout ratio is presently 97.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Christiana Smith Shi bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $88.17 per share, with a total value of $44,085.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,085. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Carol B. Tome bought 11,682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $85.67 per share, with a total value of $1,000,796.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 24,718 shares in the company, valued at $2,117,591.06. This trade represents a 89.61% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 17,182 shares of company stock valued at $1,477,382. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.