Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,121,966 United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 3,121,966 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,680,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in United Parcel Service by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,597,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,035,313,000 after buying an additional 613,409 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,264,665 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,933,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,058 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,289,624 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,080,170,000 after acquiring an additional 373,202 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 3.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,627,550 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,448,960,000 after acquiring an additional 380,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 6.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,639,272 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $632,518,000 after acquiring an additional 292,777 shares during the last quarter. 60.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of United Parcel Service from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of United Parcel Service from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $100.00 to $82.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $170.00 to $141.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.73.

United Parcel Service Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UPS opened at $119.10 on Thursday. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $121.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.88. The company has a market capitalization of $101.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.17.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.23. United Parcel Service had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 39.13%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.47 earnings per share. Analysts expect that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.51%. This is an increase from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.04%.

United Parcel Service Profile

United Parcel Service, Inc, a package delivery company, provides transportation and delivery, distribution, contract logistics, ocean freight, airfreight, customs brokerage, and insurance services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of express letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States.