FTSE 100 movers: ITV rallies but water utilities slump amid broker note bonanza
London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,710.76 in afternoon trade on Friday, with more broker notes than you can shake a stick at responsible for all the biggest moves.
Broadcaster ITV was the standout gainer after its results on Thursday, as JPMorgan Cazenove upped its price target to 200p from 185p. It said the stock was too cheap for a business with around 3% top line growth and strategic optionality.
Randgold Resources also gained as Citi said it’s one of the best quality gold companies globally and is its preferred gold equity exposure. The bank said a 7% stock correction following a weak first quarter creates a great buying opportunity.
RBS was also boosted by a broker note as Societe Generale upgraded it to ‘hold’ while G4S benefited from an upgrade to ‘outperform’ at Exane BNP Paribas, which highlighted improving earnings momentum.
Budget airline EasyJet flew higher after Goodbody bumped the stock up to ‘buy’.
On the downside, United Utilities and Severn Trent were under the cosh on the back of a Bernstein note. The bank cut Severn to ‘underperform’ from ‘market perform’ as it recommended investors take profit in water utilities, and cut the price target for UU.
InterContinental Hotels retreated as Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded it to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’. The bank said it expects the company to deliver 4% room growth through 2020 rather than the 5% to 6% expected by consensus.
Insurer Admiral was weaker after a downgrade to ‘underperform’ at Mediobanca.
FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 172.05p 7.30%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,856.00p 3.21%
Evraz (EVR) 516.20p 2.99%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 294.90p 2.93%
Royal Mail (RMG) 629.20p 2.91%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,852.40p 2.90%
G4S (GFS) 267.10p 2.53%
Glencore (GLEN) 385.05p 2.35%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,704.60p 2.11%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,724.50p 2.07%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 754.20p -3.46%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,961.36p -2.90%
DCC (DCC) 7,290.00p -2.28%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,747.00p -1.60%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,941.50p -1.55%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,752.00p -1.54%
Next (NXT) 5,486.00p -1.47%
Experian (EXPN) 1,732.50p -1.45%
BT Group (BT.A) 218.25p -1.27%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,867.00p -1.23%