Wall Street Zen Upgrades Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG) to Buy

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

SMFG has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE SMFG opened at $20.91 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $19.21 and its 200 day moving average is $17.21. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $11.83 and a fifty-two week high of $21.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $134.03 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.36.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The bank reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 13.80%. Sell-side analysts predict that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,743,128 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,140,000 after acquiring an additional 147,963 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,886,033 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,312,000 after purchasing an additional 9,022 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,302,411 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,789,000 after purchasing an additional 378,909 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,036,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,095,000 after purchasing an additional 294,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 4.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,921,712 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,037,000 after buying an additional 81,103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.85% of the company’s stock.

About Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (SMFG) is a Tokyo-based financial holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through a network of domestic and international subsidiaries. Established in 2002 as a holding company for the Sumitomo Mitsui banking operations, SMFG’s core banking business is conducted primarily through its main operating bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), alongside other affiliates covering trust banking, securities, leasing and consumer finance.

The group’s product and service mix spans corporate and commercial banking, retail deposit and loan services, trade and project finance, cash management, syndicated lending, foreign exchange and treasury services, and capital markets and investment banking activities through its securities arm.