Sepio Capital LP Makes New Investment in Upbound Group, Inc. $UPBD

Sepio Capital LP bought a new position in Upbound Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPBD) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 148,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,604,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in UPBD. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upbound Group by 15.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 48,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 6,623 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Upbound Group by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Upbound Group by 73.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 532,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,766,000 after purchasing an additional 224,811 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Upbound Group by 286.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 86,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,071,000 after purchasing an additional 64,073 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Upbound Group during the second quarter worth approximately $440,000. 90.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on UPBD. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Upbound Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Upbound Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Upbound Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.33.

Upbound Group Stock Performance

UPBD stock opened at $18.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 3.06. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.85. Upbound Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.82 and a 52 week high of $28.02.

Upbound Group (NASDAQ:UPBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Upbound Group had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 35.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Upbound Group has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.000-1.100 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.350 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Upbound Group, Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Upbound Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Upbound Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Upbound Group news, Director Jeffrey J. Brown acquired 2,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.41 per share, with a total value of $45,205.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 94,840 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,844.40. The trade was a 2.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Upbound Group Profile

Upbound Group, Inc leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Rent-A-Center, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. The company's brands, such as Rent-A-Center and Acima that facilitate consumer transactions across a range of store-based and virtual channels. It offers furniture comprising mattresses, tires, consumer electronics, appliances, tools, handbags, computers, smartphones, and accessories.