UWM Holdings Corporation (NYSE:UWMC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give UWM a consensus "Hold" rating — of 12 covering analysts there are 1 sell, 8 hold and 3 buy recommendations, with an average 12‑month target price of $5.99.
• UWM missed EPS in the latest quarter ($0.08 vs. $0.09) but beat revenue, trades around $3.55 (50‑day $3.84 / 200‑day $4.77), and pays a high-yield dividend (annualized $0.40, 11.3% yield) despite a very high payout ratio; insiders have also sold substantial share blocks recently (CEO sold ~1.0M shares).

UWM Holdings Corporation (NYSE:UWMC - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.9889.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of UWM in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of UWM in a research note on Friday, April 24th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $4.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of UWM from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Argus raised shares of UWM to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of UWM from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

UWM Price Performance

UWMC stock opened at $3.55 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.77. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.08 and a beta of 1.93. UWM has a 52-week low of $3.38 and a 52-week high of $7.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

UWM (NYSE:UWMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $945.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.12 million. UWM had a net margin of 0.87% and a negative return on equity of 1.35%. As a group, equities analysts expect that UWM will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

UWM Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 19th. UWM's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 666.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ishbia Mat sold 1,000,574 shares of UWM stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.70, for a total transaction of $3,702,123.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,335,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $41,939,585.10. This trade represents a 8.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 29,490,660 shares of company stock worth $116,585,963 over the last ninety days. 87.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UWM

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UWMC. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in UWM by 5,681.9% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,163 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 4,091 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in UWM during the second quarter worth $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in UWM by 1,410.7% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,596 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 8,027 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in UWM during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quent Long Short Global Small Cap Fund LP bought a new position in UWM during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 53.59% of the company's stock.

UWM Company Profile

United Wholesale Mortgage NYSE: UWMC is a leading mortgage lender in the United States specializing in the wholesale channel. The company partners with independent mortgage brokers, community banks and credit unions to offer a full suite of residential mortgage products. Through its network of third-party originators, United Wholesale Mortgage underwrites, funds and closes loans, allowing its partners to focus on customer acquisition and service.

The company’s product offerings include conventional fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, U.S.

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