- Morgan Stanley upgrades Taylor Wimpey
- Investec upgrades Diageo to ‘Buy’
- Barclays upgrades Auto Trader and MoneySupermarket.com to ‘Overweight’
- Berenberg downgrades Legal & General and M&G to ‘Hold’
Morgan Stanley upgrades Taylor Wimpey
Taylor Wimpey LON:TW. was upgraded by Morgan Stanley to an “equal weight” on Tuesday, We wrote about the Housebuilder recently noting that quarterly financials look positive, with significant gains in net income, diluted EPS and net profit margin. Taylor Wimpey has been in rally mode since the start of October really, when it bounced off 85p. It is still down over the twelve month picture, but investors have been able to make money off the shares over the short term.
At the time of writing, shares were trading at 117.85p, up 12.6% and -22.2% over the last 12 months.
Investec upgrades Diageo to ‘Buy’
Investec has upgraded Diageo LON:DGE to ‘Buy’ (‘Hold’) this week as a value play following a recent decline in the share price. The target price was maintained at 3,900p. The broker note left guidance for the medium term unchanged, suggesting the US slowdown was likely to be temporary, stating “The interim dividend per share up 5% and a new £0.5bn buyback underscore its confidence,”
Shares were trading at 3,558.50p at the time of writing, down 1.5% on the year to date and -4.9% over the last 12 months.
Barclays upgrades AutoTrader and MoneySupermarket.com to ‘Overweight’
Barclays upgrades AutoTrader LON:AUTO to ‘Overweight’ (‘Equal Weight’), raising the target price to 725p, up from 600p. The broker commented on the quality of the business, “We have long viewed AutoTrader as a well-positioned market leader with a top-class management team and a proven track record of execution”. The new online product ‘Deal Builder’ and increased pricing for FY24 has prompted the upgrade and target price increase on “on higher near term and outer forecasts given our confidence in growth provided by Digital Retail”
At the time of writing, shares were trading at 626.40p, an increase of 20% on the year to date and -7.3% over the last 12 months.
Barclays has also upgraded MoneySupermarket.com LON:MONY to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ and raised the target price to 270p (230p). The broker has been cautious that “weak end-market trends in insurance and energy would shadow operational improvements” but feels that a combined improvement for the insurance sector and the operational changes merit a rerating.
Shares were trading at 237.60 at the time of writing, up 21.7% on the year to date and +17.9% over the last 12 months.
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Berenberg downgrades Legal & General and M&G
Berenberg has downgraded insurers Legal & General LON:LGEN and M&G LON:MNG to ‘Hold’ (‘Buy’) this week, noting the strong correlation to credit and the UK economy. The broker noted “Our analysis shows that, unless credit spreads are below 50 basis points, L&G’s share price will not rise above 300p,” cutting its target price to 290p (345p). It also noted M&G’s attractive dividend yield of 9.3% but suggests the stock is likely to struggle to rerate, cutting its target price to 218p (260p).
At the time of writing, shares in Legal & General were trading at 254.40p, up 1% for the year to date and -12% over the last 12 months. M&G shares were trading at 203.45p
