Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on UPBD. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Upbound Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. BTIG Research downgraded Upbound Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Upbound Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Upbound Group from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Upbound Group Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Upbound Group stock opened at $15.62 on Monday. Upbound Group has a 12-month low of $15.37 and a 12-month high of $23.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $910.65 million, a P/E ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94.

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.02. Upbound Group had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 34.53%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Upbound Group’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Upbound Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.350 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.850-0.950 EPS. Research analysts expect that Upbound Group will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Upbound Group

In related news, EVP Anthony J. Blasquez sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.85, for a total transaction of $188,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $824,065.45. The trade was a 18.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey J. Brown bought 2,295 shares of Upbound Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.09 per share, with a total value of $46,106.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 96,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,942,321.29. This represents a 2.43% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Upbound Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $194,216,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Upbound Group by 15.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,394,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,227,000 after acquiring an additional 327,203 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in Upbound Group in the second quarter worth about $37,565,000. Huber Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Upbound Group by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 1,739,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,538,000 after purchasing an additional 773,775 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Upbound Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $18,862,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.30% of the company’s stock.

Upbound Group Company Profile

Upbound Group, Inc is a consumer leasing and retail services company headquartered in Plano, Texas. The company operates through two primary brands: Rent-A-Center, a lease-to-own provider, and Acima, a technology-enabled point-of-sale leasing platform. Its services are designed to give consumers access to household and consumer products through flexible leasing arrangements, including options that may not require traditional credit.

Rent-A-Center offers furniture, appliances, electronics, computers, smartphones and other durable goods through company-operated and franchised stores, as well as digital channels.