Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stake in UBS Group AG $UBS

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,282,908 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 532,230 shares during the quarter. UBS Group makes up approximately 0.4% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in UBS Group were worth $338,458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of UBS Group by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,742,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $112,048,000 after purchasing an additional 97,509 shares during the period. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH grew its position in UBS Group by 1,198.4% during the third quarter. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH now owns 258,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,559,000 after buying an additional 238,235 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in UBS Group by 6.4% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 4,439,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $181,409,000 after buying an additional 265,475 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in UBS Group in the third quarter valued at $2,842,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of UBS Group by 21.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 77,353,590 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,171,497,000 after acquiring an additional 13,417,945 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on UBS. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Bank of America raised UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $60.30 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Zacks Research downgraded UBS Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of UBS Group in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.30.

UBS Group Stock Down 2.1%

NYSE UBS opened at $38.45 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $120.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.14. UBS Group AG has a one year low of $25.75 and a one year high of $49.36.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.12. UBS Group had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $12.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UBS Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group’s payout ratio is presently 14.83%.

UBS Group Profile

UBS Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services firm that provides a broad range of banking and capital markets services to private, institutional and corporate clients. Headquartered in Zurich, UBS operates as a universal bank with a primary focus on wealth management, asset management, investment banking and retail and commercial banking in Switzerland. The firm serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, pension funds, corporations and institutional investors through a global network of offices.

Key business activities include global wealth management—offering financial planning, investment advisory, discretionary portfolio management and custody services—alongside asset management products for institutional and retail investors.