Boston Research & Management Inc. Trims Stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. $UPS

Boston Research & Management Inc. reduced its stake in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,265 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,671 shares during the quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $3,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,496,420 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,794,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218,432 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,063,250 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,594,713,000 after purchasing an additional 288,720 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,154,091 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,703,291,000 after purchasing an additional 240,253 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of United Parcel Service in the 4th quarter worth approximately $902,446,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,991,490 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $667,109,000 after acquiring an additional 761,217 shares in the last quarter. 60.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore lowered their price objective on United Parcel Service from $115.00 to $113.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on United Parcel Service from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on United Parcel Service from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on United Parcel Service from $125.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded United Parcel Service from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.50.

United Parcel Service Price Performance

NYSE UPS opened at $103.33 on Thursday. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a one year low of $82.00 and a one year high of $122.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $102.82 and a 200 day moving average of $103.93. The company has a market capitalization of $87.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $21.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.99 billion. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 5.94%.The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

United Parcel Service Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.15%.

United Parcel Service Company Profile

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) is a global package delivery and supply chain management company that provides a broad range of transportation, logistics and e-commerce services. Its core business centers on small-package delivery and last-mile distribution for business and individual customers, supported by a network of ground transportation, air cargo operations (UPS Airlines) and sorting facilities. In addition to parcel delivery, UPS offers freight transportation, contract logistics, warehousing, customs brokerage and reverse-logistics solutions designed to support domestic and international commerce.

The company traces its roots to 1907 when it began as a small messenger service in the United States and later evolved into the United Parcel Service.