Saturna Capital Corp Boosts Stock Position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 274,863 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 3,368 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $34,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in UPS. State Street Corp grew its holdings in United Parcel Service by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,597,425 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,035,313,000 after buying an additional 613,409 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $2,933,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337,058 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in United Parcel Service by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,289,624 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,080,170,000 after acquiring an additional 373,202 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in United Parcel Service by 3.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,627,550 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,448,960,000 after acquiring an additional 380,229 shares in 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 worth $1,272,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,328 shares during the period. 60.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Baird R W downgraded United Parcel Service from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of United Parcel Service from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $147.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $156.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.00.

United Parcel Service Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of United Parcel Service stock opened at $116.35 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $121.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.64. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 52-week low of $109.40 and a 52-week high of $158.95. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $99.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is a positive change from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.64%. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.04%.

About United Parcel Service

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.