Korea Investment CORP Sells 613,635 Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its holdings in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 18.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,635,937 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 613,635 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $80,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in UBS Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 127,886,868 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,915,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,428 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,289,387 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of UBS Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 16,751,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $543,936,000 after purchasing an additional 95,712 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of UBS Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $502,398,000 after buying an additional 301,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of UBS Group by 20.2% in 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 period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

UBS Group Stock Performance

UBS Group stock opened at $33.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.21. UBS Group AG has a 52-week low of $26.01 and a 52-week high of $35.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.90 billion. UBS Group had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 6.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This is a positive change from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23. This represents a yield of 2.1%. UBS Group’s dividend payout ratio is 14.47%.

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.