Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) Short Interest Update

Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 179,100 shares, a decrease of 40.4% from the January 15th total of 300,700 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 103,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UVSP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Univest Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Univest Financial from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Univest Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Univest Financial by 57.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 228,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after buying an additional 83,312 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Univest Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $2,299,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Univest Financial by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 632,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,661,000 after acquiring an additional 71,265 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Univest Financial by 64.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 103,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 40,545 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Univest Financial by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 173,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,106,000 after purchasing an additional 32,400 shares during the last quarter. 75.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Univest Financial Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of UVSP stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $30.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 90,704. The company has a market cap of $892.54 million, a PE ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Univest Financial has a 52 week low of $18.41 and a 52 week high of $32.75.

Univest Financial (NASDAQ:UVSP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.08. Univest Financial had a return on equity of 8.51% and a net margin of 15.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Univest Financial will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Univest Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. Univest Financial’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

About Univest Financial

Univest Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Univest Bank and Trust Co that provides banking products and services primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Insurance. The Banking segment offers a range of banking services, such as deposit taking, loan origination and servicing, mortgage banking, other general banking, and equipment lease financing services for individuals, businesses, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations.