Geode Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 36,420 UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 36,420 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,104,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UBS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in UBS Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,594,066,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,296,428 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of UBS Group by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 34,979,795 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,070,335,000 after buying an additional 5,555,624 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in UBS Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 16,751,961 shares of the bank's stock valued at $543,936,000 after acquiring an additional 95,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in UBS Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 16,445,068 shares of the bank's stock valued at $502,398,000 after acquiring an additional 301,394 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UBS shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of UBS Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BNP Paribas raised UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America lowered UBS Group from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded UBS Group from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of UBS Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

UBS Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UBS traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.72. The company had a trading volume of 2,956,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,811. UBS Group AG has a 12 month low of $25.75 and a 12 month high of $35.84. The stock has a market cap of $98.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.76, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $30.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.88.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.09. UBS Group had a net margin of 6.93% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The company had revenue of $11.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.19 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

UBS Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 16th. This is a boost from UBS Group's previous annual dividend of $0.23. UBS Group's payout ratio is 14.47%.

UBS Group Company Profile

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.