United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Trading Up 1.3% – Should You Buy?

United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) shot up 1.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $115.60 and last traded at $115.70. 1,061,035 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,651,150 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on UPS. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Argus upgraded shares of United Parcel Service from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $150.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.73.

United Parcel Service Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.98.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 39.13% and a net margin of 6.35%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This is an increase from United Parcel Service’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.64%. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.45%.

Insider Activity at United Parcel Service

In other news, insider Norman M. Brothers, Jr. sold 7,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.57, for a total value of $1,015,025.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,098 shares in the company, valued at $6,249,229.86. The trade was a 13.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of United Parcel Service

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UPS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 4.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 829,280 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $113,064,000 after acquiring an additional 33,989 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Parcel Service in the fourth quarter valued at about $461,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 8.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 87,531 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $11,934,000 after acquiring an additional 6,941 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 1,061.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,772,765 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $232,959,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Parcel Service in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,305,000. 60.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

United Parcel Service Company 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.