Investors Buy Large Volume of UWM Call Options (NYSE:UWMC)

UWM Holdings Corporation (NYSE:UWMC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 9,798 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 82% compared to the typical volume of 5,393 call options.

Insider Transactions at UWM

In other UWM news, CEO Ishbia Mat sold 632,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.89, for a total transaction of $3,727,627.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,155,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,694,510.85. This represents a 22.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,787,071 shares of company stock valued at $105,009,906. 87.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UWM

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carrera Capital Advisors boosted its position in UWM by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 325,291 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 43,879 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new stake in UWM in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of UWM by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 31,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 10,287 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UWM during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of UWM by 93.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,347,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UWMC. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $5.00 target price on shares of UWM in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of UWM from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of UWM from $6.50 to $6.75 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of UWM in a research report on Friday, December 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of UWM in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.53.

UWM Stock Down 14.0%

UWMC stock opened at $4.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.40. UWM has a 52 week low of $3.80 and a 52 week high of $7.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45.

UWM (NYSE:UWMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.06). UWM had a negative return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 0.61%.The firm had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $651.51 million. As a group, analysts predict that UWM will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

UWM Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th.

About UWM

United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE: UWMC) is a leading mortgage lender in the United States specializing in the wholesale channel. The company partners with independent mortgage brokers, community banks and credit unions to offer a full suite of residential mortgage products. Through its network of third-party originators, United Wholesale Mortgage underwrites, funds and closes loans, allowing its partners to focus on customer acquisition and service.

The company’s product offerings include conventional fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, Veterans Affairs (VA) loans, U.S.