Credit Suisse analysts have downgraded Hargreaves Lansdown to 'underperform' from 'neutral' but have raised their price target for the stock from 480p to 655p.

The Swiss bank believes that the shares, trading at an all-time high (up 70% year-to-date), and on a calendar year price earnings ratio of 23 are up with events.

Moreover, the regulatory uncertainty from the retail distribution review has the potential to disrupt the current pricing model, consume management time and raise operational costs.

Nomura kept its 'buy' rating for telecoms giant BT Group on Tuesday saying that, while first-half results are likely to be hit by the economic downturn, it still prefers the business over sector peer Vodafone (rated 'neutral').

The broker said: "BT has not re-rated against VOD on price-to-earnings grounds in the last two years despite superior EBITDA growth and guidance that implies more of the same.

"Unless VOD can secure an increased US dividend, we expect investors to focus on consolidated operations in the near term, and we support a tighter valuation discount for BT."

Investec has trimmed its target price for engineering group GKN after its Driveline division suffered from a worse-than-expected weakening in automotive demand and associated operational issues.

Investec has maintained its 'hold' rating for GKN and reduced its target price from 240p to 224p.


BC

Related share prices
BT Group (BT.A) share price
GKN (GKN) share price
Vodafone Group (VOD) share price
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) share price