Barclays Upgrades Swedbank (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) to "Hold"

Key Points

• Barclays upgraded Swedbank (OTCMKTS:SWDBY) from a "strong sell" to a "hold" in a report issued Wednesday.
• Overall analyst sentiment remains cautious — four analysts rate the stock as Hold, two as Sell, and the average rating on MarketBeat is "Reduce", with recent calls from Citigroup (neutral), Zacks (downgrade to hold) and Morgan Stanley (underweight).
• Swedbank recently beat quarterly estimates (SEK 0.77 EPS vs. SEK 0.67 expected), posted a 15.5% ROE and 30.27% net margin, and trades at a P/E of about 11.9 with analysts forecasting roughly 2.34 EPS for the year.

Swedbank (OTCMKTS:SWDBY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Barclays from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on SWDBY. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Swedbank in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Swedbank from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating on shares of Swedbank in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Swedbank has an average rating of "Reduce".

Swedbank Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:SWDBY opened at SEK 35.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of SEK 36.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of SEK 34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Swedbank has a 1 year low of SEK 20.70 and a 1 year high of SEK 40.58.

Swedbank (OTCMKTS:SWDBY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported SEK 0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of SEK 0.67 by SEK 0.10. Swedbank had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 30.27%.The firm had revenue of SEK 1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of SEK 1.79 billion. On average, analysts expect that Swedbank will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Swedbank Company Profile

Swedbank AB is a major Swedish banking group headquartered in Stockholm that provides a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate and institutional clients. The bank's operations focus on traditional banking functions such as deposit-taking, lending and payment services, as well as wealth management and insurance solutions. Swedbank's franchise is centered on serving households, small and medium-sized enterprises and larger corporate customers, with an emphasis on everyday banking and long-term client relationships.

Products and services offered by Swedbank include savings and current accounts, mortgages and consumer lending, business loans and transaction banking, payment and card services, and digital banking platforms.

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