Brokers' Take: 'Neutral', 'hold' calls on UOB

RHB Research has maintained its "neutral" call on the shares of UOB with a target price of S$25.40.

It said the lender's Q1 2015 pre-impairment operating profit improved 6 per cent quarter on quarter on a seven basis-point improvement in net interest margin, decent loan growth and strong increase in trading income and investment gains.

"Although Q1 2015 net interest margin improvement of 7 basis points was better than peers, we see limited upside with the stock trading at 11.8x FY2015F earnings," RHB Research said.

Meanwhile, KGI Fraser maintained its "hold" call on the stock with a revised target price of S$24.18.

"Despite the positive net interest margin expansion, we believe UOB remains a defensive stock (with its high capital adequacy ratio), as opposed to DBS (most leveraged to rising interest rates) and OCBC (synergies with OCBC Wing Hang). We maintain our HOLD rating on UOB with a revised target price of S$24.18 after accounting for higher net interest income due to the early net interest margin uplift," KGI Fraser said.