KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 1): HSBC analyst Loo Kar Weng upgraded the recommendation on CIMB Group Holdings Bhd to hold from reduce.

* Price target (PT) raised to RM7.80 from RM5.40, implies 8.5% increase from last close. CIMB average PT is RM7.33

* CIMB had 14 buys, 8 holds, 2 sells previously

* Analysts raised their consensus one-year target price for the stock by 6.7 percent in the past three months. Forecasts range from RM6 to RM8.40.

* In the past six years and seven months, HSBC has rated CIMB reduce once, hold once, overweight three times, underweight once and neutral twice.

* The shares rose 6 percent in the period rated reduce, rose 63 percent in the period rated hold, fell an average 13 percent in the periods rated overweight, fell 20 percent in the period rated underweight and fell an average 0.9 percent in the periods rated neutral.