London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 7,203.38 in afternoon trade on Thursday.
Rio Tinto, Evraz and Royal Dutch Shell were all down as they traded without entitlement to the dividend. Rio was particularly weak as it went ex-interim and special dividend.
Going the other way, Aviva rallied after saying it would return at least £4bn to shareholders over the next year as the insurer reported a 17% increase in adjusted interim profit.
Ferguson got a boost after Deutsche Bank lifted its price target on the stock to 11,800p from 10,100p. It said Ferguson’s investment case remains unchanged: delivering consistent growth in fragmented markets.
“It has successfully generated organic and M&A-led growth historically, with initiatives like own brand products helping to raise margins,” DB said. “With a period of likely steady growth in the US housing market and economy, we believe Ferguson’s investment thesis should continue to work.”
AstraZeneca was a high riser as JPMorgan resumed coverage of the shares at ‘overweight’.
“We see Astra’s sector discount unwinding, as the Alexion acquisition demonstrates continued strong top-line growth, coupled with significant operating margin expansion and increased free cash flow generation.
“We also see a number of upcoming pipeline catalysts, with the potential to drive long-term upgrades and multiple expansion.”
JPM said Astra is now its UK large-cap top-pick, and offers the most price target upside in its Pan-Euro large cap universe, ex Bayer.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Aviva (AV.) 423.60p 4.13%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,515.50p 2.36%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 5,708.00p 1.93%
Ferguson (FERG) 10,235.00p 1.19%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,271.00p 1.11%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,500.50p 1.11%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 729.40p 1.05%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,459.50p 1.00%
Fresnillo (FRES) 799.40p 0.99%
BT Group (BT.A) 178.55p 0.96%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,665.00p -7.15%
Evraz (EVR) 604.20p -6.18%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,904.00p -2.40%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 273.70p -2.15%
M&G (MNG) 226.40p -1.57%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) 1,459.40p -1.49%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 15,535.00p -1.46%
Abrdn (ABDN) 289.50p -1.40%
SEGRO (SGRO) 1,229.50p -1.24%
Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ (RDSA) 1,473.20p -1.18%
