Goldman Sachs Bank Stocks: Top 5 Stock Picks

4. UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)

Goldman Sachs’ Stake Value: $804,369,971

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30

UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) is next on our list of the top Goldman Sachs bank stocks. UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) was founded in 1862 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company operates through four segments – Global Wealth Management, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management, and Investment Bank. At the end of Q1 2023, Goldman Sachs held 37.7 million shares of UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) worth $804.3 million. 

On August 11, UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) stock price increased by 4.9% as the bank chose to end a CHF 9 billion ($10.3 billion) loss protection guarantee provided by the Swiss government. This guarantee was initially offered as part of the government-mediated acquisition of Credit Suisse. UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) reviewed its assets following the completion of the Credit Suisse takeover and concluded that the loss protection guarantee and a CHF 100 billion ($114.1 billion) public liquidity backstop were no longer needed. All loans had been repaid by Credit Suisse.

According to Insider Monkey’s first quarter database, UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) was part of 30 hedge fund portfolios, up from 16 in the prior quarter. Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management held a prominent stake in the company, comprising 3.78 million shares worth $80.85 million. 

Bronte Amalthea Fund made the following comment about UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:

“The biggest thing that happened in markets in the quarter was the collapse of three banks:—Credit Suisse, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. We have held short positions in each of these banks, but we traded them poorly and profits were smaller than they could have been.

We have also purchased the successor banks for two of them. We initiated positions in UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS), which has purchased Credit Suisse under advantageous terms, and First Citizens Bank, which purchased much of Silicon Valley Bank on even more advantageous terms.

We will go through each of these banks in turn as they are (a) interesting in their own right and (b) have resulted in some changes in our portfolio.

Swiss banks were sharply weakened by the end of banking secrecy. Historically, Switzerland was a clean place to hide your dirty money and Swiss Banking was almost synonymous with tax avoidance.…” (Click here to read the full text)