Access, Sterling, Wema Get Hold Rating over Limited Upside Potential
Access Holdings Plc, Sterling Financial Holdings, and Wema Bank Plc have been placed on hold rating by Afrinvest Securities Limited due to limited upside potential.
“Investors are advised to remain neutral, as the expected total returns are not expected to exceed 10.0% based on the prevailing market price as of the report date,” Afrinvest Securities advised investors.
Ranked as one of the weak performers in the banking index, Access Holdings Plc’s year to date settled at 7.1%.
Hold ratings mean that analysts at the investment firm have taken a neutral position on the two banking names. Access Holdings Breached resistance market price of N24 last due to increased demand for the financial stocks.
The stock beat Afrinvest Limited target price of N22.79, which has now triggered a new estimate. Afrinvest upgraded itsw 12-month target price for Access Holdings to N26.04, with an upside potential of 5%.
With a 4.7% negative return over a week, the equities market priced Sterling Plc at N4.65 on Friday, trading behind its target price of N4.06.
Sterling Holdings Plc has delivered an 8.4% year-to-date return, as per Afrinvest Limited, with analysts seeing 1.1% upside potential in the financial services group.
Afrinvest Limited, however, upgraded Sterling target price to N4.70 with limited upside potential based on its 12-month price target. Wema Bank Plc is also on hold at Afrinvest Securities Limited due to limited upside potential estimated at 5.5%.
Afrinvest analysts raised Wema Bank Plc’s target price to N9.13 while the stock was priced at N8.65 in the equities market on Friday. Wema Bank Plc year-to-date return, which printed at 54.5%, is the highest among the three lenders.
