Bleakley Financial Group LLC Trims Stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,612 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 710 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 6.1% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 6.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,465,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,169,000 after acquiring an additional 142,328 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in UBS Group by 11.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,348,771 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,975,000 after acquiring an additional 453,906 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 136.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 293,491 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,716,000 after acquiring an additional 169,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in UBS Group by 39.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,826 shares of the bank’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 4,466 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on UBS. StockNews.com raised shares of UBS Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Societe Generale upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of UBS Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

UBS Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of UBS Group stock opened at $28.42 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.62 and its 200 day moving average is $28.11. UBS Group AG has a twelve month low of $18.71 and a twelve month high of $32.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The bank reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $10.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.06 billion. UBS Group had a net margin of 43.70% and a return on equity of 7.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Research analysts predict that UBS Group AG will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.228 per share. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a yield of 0.82%. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio is 2.00%.

UBS Group Company 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.