RELX PLC (LON:REL) has been lowered to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ by analysts at Berenberg as the German bank struggled to see any upside in the shares following a surge over the last 12 months.
In a Friday note, which also saw the FTSE 100 firm’s target price lowered to 2,100p from 2,120p, Berenberg’s analysts said there was now “more potential from stocks that have sold off due to coronavirus fears” and that while they thought RELX investors should stick with their existing investments, it was “hard to justify putting fresh money into the name at these levels”, with the shares having risen 18% year-on-year.
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However, the broker said it continued to view the company positively, saying its reliability in generating expansion in its business was “impressive and is broad-based across the divisions, with all delivering increased margins despite ongoing investment in new products and dilution from bolt-on acquisitions”.
They added that despite the risk of the coronavirus outbreak affecting its exhibitions business, Berenberg only expected that the firm will be “modestly affected in 2020” unless the virus became pandemic in nature.
Shares in RELX were 0.1% lower at 2,069p in mid-morning trading.