BNP Paribas Downgrades UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) to Neutral

BNP Paribas downgraded shares of UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Societe Generale upgraded UBS Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded UBS Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded UBS Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold.

UBS Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE UBS opened at $27.49 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.26. UBS Group has a 52-week low of $18.71 and a 52-week high of $32.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The bank reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.18). UBS Group had a net margin of 43.70% and a return on equity of 7.56%. The firm had revenue of $10.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that UBS Group will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.228 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UBS Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in UBS Group during the 4th quarter valued at $5,004,151,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,982,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,522,067,000 after purchasing an additional 7,249,527 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in UBS Group by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 51,432,723 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,271,454,000 after purchasing an additional 14,104,407 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in UBS Group by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 48,551,715 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,495,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in UBS Group by 9.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,840,395 shares in the last quarter.

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.