Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms "Underperform" Rating for Associated British Foods (LON:ABF)

Key Points

• Jefferies reaffirmed its “Underperform” rating on Associated British Foods and set a GBX 1,650 price target, implying 17.87% downside from the share price at the time of the report.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious: five analysts rate ABF “Hold” and two rate it “Sell”; MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Reduce,” with a GBX 1,777.86 target.
• ABF shares rose GBX 25 to GBX 2,009 on Thursday. The company reported quarterly earnings of GBX 156 per share and revenue of GBX 1,958.20 billion.

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underperform" rating restated by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued on Thursday, Digital Look reports. They currently have a GBX 1,650 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target would indicate a potential downside of 17.87% from the company's current price.

ABF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Shore Capital Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a GBX 1,910 target price on shares of Associated British Foods in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Associated British Foods from GBX 1,700 to GBX 1,645 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 11th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Associated British Foods from GBX 1,550 to GBX 1,520 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank boosted their price target on Associated British Foods from GBX 1,790 to GBX 1,820 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of GBX 1,777.86.

Associated British Foods Stock Performance

ABF stock traded up GBX 25 on Thursday, hitting GBX 2,009. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,939,250. The firm has a 50 day moving average of GBX 1,904.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 1,919.49. Associated British Foods has a 1 year low of GBX 1,729.45 and a 1 year high of GBX 2,251. The stock has a market cap of £14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.20.

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported GBX 156 earnings per share for the quarter. Associated British Foods had a net margin of 4.75% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of GBX 1,958.20 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Associated British Foods will post 188.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Associated British Foods

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £13.9bn, 128,000 employees and operations in 53 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Our purpose is to provide safe, nutritious, affordable food, and clothing that is great value for money. With the breadth of our business, our brands and global reach, ABF aims to consistently deliver value to its stakeholders. Our business is split into five segments: Grocery; Sugar; Agriculture; Ingredients; and Retail.

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