Carlson Capital L.P. Makes New Investment in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Carlson Capital L.P. purchased a new position in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 15,700 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $476,000. UBS Group accounts for 0.3% of Carlson Capital L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 6.1% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 57,349,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,771,713,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289,387 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 30,802,466 shares of the bank’s stock worth $952,104,000 after acquiring an additional 851,231 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank’s stock worth $502,398,000 after acquiring an additional 301,394 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 20.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,708,623 shares of the bank’s stock worth $423,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,307,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of UBS Group by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,338,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $224,259,000 after acquiring an additional 445,876 shares during the last quarter.

UBS Group Price Performance

UBS Group stock opened at $34.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $109.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.95 and its 200 day moving average is $31.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. UBS Group AG has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $35.84.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.08). UBS Group had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a yield of 2.1%. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UBS has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of UBS Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.