Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL) shares fell on Thursday after being downgraded from buy to sell by investment group Liberum.
The group cited industry headwinds as a reason for the downgrade, including a possible further cut in the base rate.
Liberum’s Justin Bates commented:
“There is no doubting the formidable track record and strength of the Hargreaves Lansdown business model. However, trading on a PE of 36x, with the prospect of consensus downgrades and significant industry headwinds, Liberum view the risk/reward as unfavourable.
“The possibility of further cuts to base rates, increased regulatory capital requirements, margin pressure and the FCA’s review of the industry add up to a challenging outlook.”
The downgrade comes a just over a week after strong preliminary full year results. Net revenue rose 11 percent to £326.5 million, with profit up 10 percent to £218.9 million.
Shares were down 3.17 percent to 1,276 at 1010GMT.
15/09/2016
