Wall Street Zen Upgrades UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) to Hold

Key Points

• UBS Group has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating, following a series of favorable analysts' reports from other institutions.
• The bank reported an earnings per share of $0.72, exceeding expectations, with revenues reaching $11.55 billion for the last quarter.
• Institutional investors are showing significant interest, with notable increases in their stakes in UBS, including a dramatic 6,413.6% increase by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in the second quarter.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

UBS has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America raised shares of UBS Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating on shares of UBS Group in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised UBS Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of UBS Group in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of UBS Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UBS Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

UBS Group Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:UBS traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 618,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,922,671. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. UBS Group has a 1 year low of $25.75 and a 1 year high of $42.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.21.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The bank reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. UBS Group had a net margin of 9.21% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $11.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. Research analysts expect that UBS Group will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of UBS Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in UBS Group by 19.6% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 32,345 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 5,299 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in UBS Group by 6,413.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,061,842 shares of the bank's stock worth $35,813,000 after buying an additional 1,045,540 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in UBS Group by 14.9% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 181,910 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,144,000 after buying an additional 23,627 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UBS Group in the second quarter worth $898,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in UBS Group by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 2,904,401 shares of the bank's stock worth $98,102,000 after acquiring an additional 689,740 shares during the period.

UBS Group Company Profile

UBS Group AG provides financial advice and solutions to private, institutional, and corporate clients worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, Investment Bank, and Non-core and Legacy. The company offers investment advice, estate and wealth planning, investing, corporate and banking, and investment management, as well as mortgage, securities-based, and structured lending solutions.