Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $828,000 Investment in Universal Co. (NYSE:UVV)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Universal Co. (NYSE:UVV) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 12,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $828,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.05% of Universal at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of UVV. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Universal in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,187,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Universal by 21.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,139,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,800,000 after purchasing an additional 203,514 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Universal by 19.0% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,117,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,755,000 after purchasing an additional 178,592 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Universal by 17,471.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 57,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,729,000 after purchasing an additional 57,481 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Universal by 18.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 350,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,540,000 after purchasing an additional 54,602 shares during the period. 81.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Universal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 10th.

Universal Trading Down 0.9 %

UVV stock opened at $50.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 3.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.92. Universal Co. has a 52 week low of $44.40 and a 52 week high of $67.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.79.

Universal (NYSE:UVV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter. Universal had a net margin of 4.98% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The business had revenue of $821.51 million for the quarter.

Universal Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 8th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.30%. Universal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.26%.

Universal Profile

Universal Corporation processes and supplies leaf tobacco and plant-based ingredients worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Tobacco Operations; and Ingredients Operations. It is involved in the procuring, financing, processing, packing, storing, and shipping leaf tobacco for sale to manufacturers of consumer tobacco products.