Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 373,194 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,775,955 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 373,194 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $205,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of UBS Group by 6.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in UBS Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 30,802,466 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $952,104,000 after purchasing an additional 851,231 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in UBS Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 16,751,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $543,936,000 after purchasing an additional 95,712 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in UBS Group by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank’s stock worth $502,398,000 after purchasing an additional 301,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 valued at $423,504,000 after buying an additional 2,307,033 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on UBS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BNP Paribas raised UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered UBS Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

UBS Group Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE UBS opened at $33.05 on Thursday. UBS Group AG has a 12-month low of $26.01 and a 12-month high of $35.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76. The stock has a market cap of $105.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74 and a beta of 1.15.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.90 billion. UBS Group had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 6.93%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.08%.

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.