Royce & Associates LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its position in Univest Financial Co. (NASDAQ:UVSP) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,258 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Univest Financial were worth $6,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Univest Financial during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Univest Financial during the third quarter valued at $239,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 83,312 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Univest Financial by 2,713.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Univest Financial by 34.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 54,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 13,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on UVSP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Univest Financial in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Univest Financial from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Univest Financial Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:UVSP opened at $30.94 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Univest Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $18.17 and a 12-month high of $32.24. The firm has a market cap of $898.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.85.

Univest Financial (NASDAQ:UVSP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $126.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.11 million. Univest Financial had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 14.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Univest Financial Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Univest Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 6th. Univest Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael S. Keim sold 3,633 shares of Univest Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $104,485.08. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,601,328.04. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey M. Schweitzer sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.50, for a total value of $34,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,570,329.50. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,389 shares of company stock valued at $412,352 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Univest Financial Company Profile

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.