Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 634 Shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS)

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,991 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 634 shares during the period. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $2,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in United Parcel Service by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 829,280 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $113,064,000 after purchasing an additional 33,989 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 6,941 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in 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. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,919,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $367,300,000 after acquiring an additional 685,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of United Parcel Service by 71.8% in the 2nd quarter. Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. now owns 14,530 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UPS has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on United Parcel Service from $134.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wolfe Research raised 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 note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of United Parcel Service from $165.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of United Parcel Service from $151.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of United Parcel Service from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.10.

Insider Activity

In other United Parcel Service news, insider Norman M. Brothers, Jr. sold 7,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.57, for a total transaction of $1,015,025.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,249,229.86. This trade represents a 13.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

United Parcel Service Stock Performance

UPS opened at $129.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.56 and a 52-week high of $161.35.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The transportation company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $22.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.10 billion. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 37.38% and a net margin of 6.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Parcel Service Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.02%. United Parcel Service’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.49%.

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.