UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.90 Per Share

UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) announced an annual dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be given a dividend of 0.90 per share by the bank on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. This is an increase from UBS Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.23.

UBS Group has raised its dividend by an average of 23.7% annually over the last three years. UBS Group has a dividend payout ratio of 11.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect UBS Group to earn $1.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.35 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.9%.

UBS Group Price Performance

UBS Group stock opened at $33.40 on Friday. UBS Group has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $35.84. The firm has a market cap of $107.08 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.87. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.37.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.08). UBS Group had a return on equity of 4.69% and a net margin of 5.13%. The firm had revenue of $11.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.09) earnings per share. UBS Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that UBS Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on UBS. StockNews.com cut UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

About UBS Group

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.