Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services raised its rating on Cyprus by one notch and revised its outlook on Finland to negative amid a slew of sovereign evaluations issued Friday.

The credit rater had suggested earlier this year that sovereign downgrades were likely to outnumber upgrades this year, though it added the overall number of negative outlooks has declined since 2012 and it didn’t foresee downgrading any sovereigns holding the highest triple-A rating.

S&P...