Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPBD) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $24.02 and last traded at $23.86, with a volume of 433,038 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $22.46.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UPBD. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Upbound Group from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. BTIG Research cut Upbound Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research upgraded Upbound Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Upbound Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Upbound Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Upbound Group Stock Up 6.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 3.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.91.

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Upbound Group had a return on equity of 33.81% and a net margin of 2.36%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Upbound Group, Inc. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Upbound Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 6th. Upbound Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown acquired 2,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.01 per share, for a total transaction of $47,015.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 98,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,682,254.98. The trade was a 2.88% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Anthony J. Blasquez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.85, for a total transaction of $188,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $824,065.45. This represents a 18.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Upbound Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Upbound Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $194,216,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Upbound Group by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,394,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,227,000 after acquiring an additional 327,203 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Upbound Group during the second quarter valued at $37,565,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Upbound Group in the second quarter worth $18,862,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Upbound Group in the first quarter worth $7,455,000. Institutional investors own 90.30% of the company’s stock.

Upbound Group Company Profile

Upbound Group, Inc is a provider of consumer leasing and retail solutions, operating primarily through its Rent-A-Center and Acima brands. The company enables customers to obtain merchandise through flexible lease-to-own agreements and related payment options, serving consumers who may prefer alternatives to traditional retail financing.

Its Rent-A-Center business operates company-owned and franchised locations, as well as digital channels, offering furniture, appliances, electronics, computers, smartphones and other household goods.