Utility stocks have attracted plenty of comment from City analysts today.
The team at UBS has rejigged some ratings and price targets in the sector with National Grid upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral, SSE PLC (LSE:SSE) (SSE PLC (LSE:SSE)) downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ with British Gas owner, Centrica, kept as ‘neutral’ with an increased price target of 165p, up from 145p.
In water stocks, United Utilities is rated ‘neutral,’ Severn Trent at ‘sell’ and Pennon Group at ‘buy.’
Meanwhile, at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) (Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)) the utilities team have also been busy with a note looking ahead to 2024.
“We expect Utilities to outperform in 2024 given attractive valuation, continued operational-driven EPS upgrades, defensive attributes, policy support and sensitivity to rate moves.” Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) (Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)) said.
In contrast to UBS, the bank includes SSE and Severn Trent as two of its top picks – rated ‘overweight.’
National Grid, United Utilities and Drax are also rated ‘overweight.’