Raymond James & Associates Purchases 17,042 Shares of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPBD)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPBD) by 29.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 74,603 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,042 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Upbound Group were worth $2,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC bought a new position in shares of Upbound Group during the third quarter worth $182,465,000. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Upbound Group during the third quarter worth $170,877,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Upbound Group during the third quarter worth $42,184,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Upbound Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,886,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Upbound Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,094,000. 90.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on UPBD. Stephens raised shares of Upbound Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Upbound Group in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Upbound Group from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.17.

Insider Transactions at Upbound Group

In other news, EVP Anthony J. Blasquez sold 12,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.18, for a total transaction of $414,252.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,956,525.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Upbound Group Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UPBD opened at $31.11 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 3.12 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Upbound Group, Inc. has a one year low of $22.93 and a one year high of $36.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of -259.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 2.01.

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $994.27 million. Upbound Group had a negative net margin of 0.13% and a positive return on equity of 32.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Upbound Group, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Upbound Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Upbound Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,233.23%.

Upbound Group Profile

Upbound Group, Inc leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Rent-A-Center, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. The company's brands, such as Rent-A-Center and Acima that facilitate consumer transactions across a range of store-based and virtual channels.