UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $42.69, but opened at $44.37. Bank of America now has a $60.30 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $44.00. UBS Group shares last traded at $44.36, with a volume of 1,013,323 shares changing hands.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of UBS Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of UBS Group in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research downgraded UBS Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas downgraded UBS Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered UBS Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UBS. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in UBS Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 14,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in UBS Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 24,868 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,020,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in UBS Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,115 shares of the bank’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in UBS Group by 1.1% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,179 shares of the bank’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in UBS Group by 3.1% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 9,877 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period.

UBS Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.69, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.93. The stock has a market cap of $142.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.13.

UBS Group (NYSE:UBS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $12.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.68 billion. UBS Group had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that UBS Group AG will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

About UBS Group

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.