Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,533,245 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 233,794 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $202,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of UBS. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of UBS Group by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 51,432,723 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,271,454,000 after purchasing an additional 14,104,407 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in UBS Group by 6,797.0% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 4,635,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $143,567,000 after buying an additional 4,568,457 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in UBS Group by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 45,949,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,424,902,000 after buying an additional 3,840,395 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in UBS Group by 543.6% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,484,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $111,197,000 after buying an additional 3,787,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in UBS Group by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,188,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,096,000 after buying an additional 1,185,408 shares in the last quarter.

UBS Group Stock Performance

Shares of UBS traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.38. 1,800,506 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,443,492. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23. UBS Group AG has a 1 year low of $18.71 and a 1 year high of $32.13.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The bank reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.18). UBS Group had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 43.70%. The company had revenue of $10.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that UBS Group AG will post 0.78 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.228 per share. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. This represents a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group’s payout ratio is currently 2.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on UBS. BNP Paribas lowered shares of UBS Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of UBS Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Societe Generale upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup lowered shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UBS Group presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

About UBS Group

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.