Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 39.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,735 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in United Parcel Service during the 4th quarter valued at $393,680,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 833.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,074,100 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $282,783,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851,900 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of United Parcel Service by 77.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,150,901 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $397,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378,136 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,264,665 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,933,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in United Parcel Service by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 10,040,863 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,272,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on UPS. Raymond James dropped their price objective on United Parcel Service from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $170.00 to $141.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of United Parcel Service from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $166.00 to $147.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of United Parcel Service from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.00.

United Parcel Service Price Performance

NYSE UPS opened at $121.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $103.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $121.73 and a 200 day moving average of $127.77. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a one year low of $109.40 and a one year high of $158.95.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.23. United Parcel Service had a net margin of 6.35% and a return on equity of 39.13%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $1.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. This is a positive change from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. United Parcel Service’s payout ratio is presently 97.04%.

United Parcel Service Profile

United Parcel Service, Inc, a package delivery company, provides transportation and delivery, distribution, contract logistics, ocean freight, airfreight, customs brokerage, and insurance services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of express letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States.