Empirical Finance LLC Has $3.91 Million Position in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,286 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 877 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $3,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in United Parcel Service by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 387,381 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $60,908,000 after buying an additional 44,721 shares during the last quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in United Parcel Service by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 58,184 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,148,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in United Parcel Service by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,676,441 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $578,053,000 after purchasing an additional 200,297 shares during the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. bought a new position in United Parcel Service in the 4th quarter worth $2,410,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association increased its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 235.3% in the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 237,333 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,316,000 after purchasing an additional 166,557 shares during the period. 60.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UPS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on United Parcel Service from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $157.00 to $145.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of United Parcel Service from $178.00 to $170.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on United Parcel Service from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on United Parcel Service from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, United Parcel Service presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.55.

United Parcel Service Price Performance

Shares of UPS traded up $4.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $142.35. 4,762,294 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,001,669. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.65 and a 200 day moving average of $147.14. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a one year low of $132.90 and a one year high of $192.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.98.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $21.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.84 billion. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 37.42% and a net margin of 6.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 8.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Parcel Service Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is 94.49%.

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.