UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF) Upgraded at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF) from a hold (c+) rating to a buy (b-) rating in a research report released on Friday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on UMBF. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of UMB Financial from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of UMB Financial from $122.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of UMB Financial from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on shares of UMB Financial and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of UMB Financial from $120.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.00.

UMB Financial Price Performance

UMB Financial stock opened at $113.57 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $118.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.08. UMB Financial has a one year low of $82.00 and a one year high of $129.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.73.

UMB Financial (NASDAQ:UMBF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The bank reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.61. UMB Financial had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 12.27%. The business had revenue of $689.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $638.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 76.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that UMB Financial will post 9.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UMB Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. UMB Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 18.39%.

Insider Activity at UMB Financial

In related news, insider Robert Brian Beaird sold 1,205 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total value of $139,984.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,178,776.99. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Phillip James Mason sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.97, for a total value of $90,727.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,066,350.55. The trade was a 7.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 678 shares of company stock valued at $75,948 and sold 20,845 shares valued at $2,440,666. 5.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of UMB Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UMBF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in UMB Financial by 54.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,332,764 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $741,342,000 after purchasing an additional 2,570,283 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in UMB Financial in the first quarter valued at $144,351,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in UMB Financial by 636.7% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,488,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $156,543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,543 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in UMB Financial by 78.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,700,678 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,671 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in UMB Financial in the second quarter valued at $93,829,000. 87.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About UMB Financial

UMB Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company that provides banking services and asset servicing in the United States and internationally. The Commercial Banking segment provides commercial loans and credit card; commercial real estate financing; letters of credit; loan syndication, and consultative service; various business solutions including asset-based lending, mezzanine debt, and minority equity investment; and treasury management service, such as depository service, account reconciliation, cash management tool, accounts payable and receivable solution, electronic fund transfer and automated payment, controlled disbursement, lockbox service, and remote deposit capture service.