Sawyer & Company Inc Grows Stock Position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Sawyer & Company Inc grew its holdings in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS – Get Rating) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,808 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the quarter. United Parcel Service makes up approximately 2.0% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $4,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,412,452 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,170,529,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,612 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 68.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,919,598 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $310,092,000 after acquiring an additional 781,505 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,099,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,839,176,000 after acquiring an additional 601,166 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 780.2% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 639,957 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,819,000 after acquiring an additional 567,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 987,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $159,448,000 after acquiring an additional 353,525 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.92% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other United Parcel Service news, CFO Brian Newman sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.46, for a total value of $3,466,740.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,130,585.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other United Parcel Service news, CFO Brian Newman sold 19,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.46, for a total value of $3,466,740.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 11,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,130,585.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Norman M. Brothers, Jr. sold 20,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.26, for a total value of $3,777,156.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,341 shares of company stock worth $9,848,061 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on UPS. Cowen increased their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $181.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. Exane BNP Paribas lowered shares of United Parcel Service from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 30th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of United Parcel Service from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $196.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.54.

United Parcel Service Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of UPS opened at $186.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $160.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $183.09 and a 200 day moving average of $178.30. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.87 and a 52-week high of $223.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The transportation company reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.59 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.03 billion. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 66.10% and a net margin of 11.51%. United Parcel Service’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 11.5 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, January 31st that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the transportation company to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a $1.62 dividend. This is a positive change from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.09%.

United Parcel Service Profile

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United Parcel Service, Inc is a package delivery company, which engages in the provision of global supply chain management solutions. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain Solutions. The U.S. Domestic Package segment includes time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages.