Morton Community Bank Takes $1.90 Million Position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Morton Community Bank bought a new stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 15,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,895,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $4,035,313,000 after buying an additional 613,409 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $2,933,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,058 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $2,080,170,000 after purchasing an additional 373,202 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,448,960,000 after purchasing an additional 380,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 10,040,863 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,272,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

United Parcel Service Price Performance

United Parcel Service stock opened at $121.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $103.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.77. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.40 and a 12 month high of $158.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $2.47 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $156.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $150.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $170.00 to $141.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of United Parcel Service in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating and a $119.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.00.

United Parcel Service Company 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.