Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) Lowered to Underperform Rating by Royal Bank Of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Associated British Foods to an “underperform” rating and cut its target price to GBX 1,850 (from GBX 2,050), a level that implies only about a 0.48% downside from the stock’s recent open of GBX 1,859.
• Several other brokers (Deutsche Bank, Jefferies, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Shore Capital) have also trimmed targets or ratings, leaving a MarketBeat consensus of “Reduce” with a consensus target of GBX 1,815 and a split of three Hold and three Sell ratings.

Associated British Foods (LON:ABF - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada to an "underperform" rating in a research report issued on Monday,London Stock Exchange reports. They currently have a GBX 1,850 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of GBX 2,050. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective suggests a potential downside of 0.48% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 2,100 to GBX 1,925 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a GBX 1,650 target price on shares of Associated British Foods in a report on Friday, January 9th. Shore Capital Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Associated British Foods in a report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 2,095 to GBX 1,940 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Associated British Foods from GBX 1,830 to GBX 1,710 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of GBX 1,815.

Associated British Foods Price Performance

Associated British Foods stock opened at GBX 1,859 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 1,896.46 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 2,029.96. The firm has a market capitalization of £13.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.33. Associated British Foods has a 12-month low of GBX 1,729.45 and a 12-month high of GBX 2,359.

Associated British Foods Company Profile

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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