Perpetual shares lift after analyst upgrades
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More news: Shares in Perpetual are up nearly 5% to $20.56 after analysts upgraded their ratings on the investment manager after it reported a 3% rise assets under management during the first quarter.
Citi upgraded Perpetual from 'neutral' to 'buy' and hiked its target price from $21.40 to $22.50, while Jarden reiterated its 'overweight' rating on the stock and lifted its target price from $22.35 to $22.70.
Citi, Jarden upgrade Perpetual on Q1 result
The news: Jarden and Citi upgraded their ratings on Perpetual after the investment manager reported a 3% rise assets under management during the first quarter.
The numbers: Citi upgraded Perpetual from 'neutral' to 'buy' and hiked its target price from $21.40 to $22.50.
Jarden reiterated its 'overweight' rating on the stock and lifted its target price from $22.35 to $22.70. It also upgraded its earnings per share (EPS) forecasts by 1.9% in FY25 and 2.3% in FY26 reflecting Perpetual's higher funds under management (FUM) balances.
Meanwhile, Macquarie retained its 'neutral' rating on Perpetual but brought its target price down from $21.20 to $21.05. It made EPS upgrades of 2.3% in FY25, 1.2% in FY26 and 1% in following years.
Perpetual closed 0.6% lower at $19.65 after announcing the result on Thursday.
The context: Citi analysts said that despite uncertainty around KKR’s acquisition of Perpetual’s corporate trust and wealth management arms, there remains "reasonable value whether or not the deal proceeds".
Jarden analysts noted that Perpetual's asset management FUM was 1% ahead of their expectations, driven by inflows into Australia.
Macquarie analysts called the result "a step in the right direction". They expect Perpetual's new CEO Bernard Reilly to "go harder" on the $800 million post-sale cost base, but this may delay achieving his goal of top-line growth.
The sources: Jarden research, Macquarie research, Citi research
