Broker tips: Standard Life, Lloyds, Hargreaves Lansdown...

24th Mar 2014 11:43

Shore Capital has reiterated its 'hold' recommendation on insurer Standard Life after the company confirmed speculation that it is in talks with Phoenix regarding the potential purchase of the latter's Ignis Asset Management division.Shore Capital Analyst Eamonn Flanagan said that the move compounds his view that Standard Life is "increasingly setting its stall out as an asset accumulator and asset manager as opposed to a life company". He added: "Such a deal is likely to reduce the likelihood of further special dividends in the short term."Investec has upgraded its rating for Lloyds Banking Group from 'hold' to 'buy', telling investors that "it is safe to go back in the water"."After a 10% 10-week pull-back, we again see reasonable value for a low-risk stock. Upgrade to 'buy'," the broker said. Galvan Research and Trading has labelled financial services group Hargreaves Lansdown as a 'buy', saying that it should get a boost from George Osborne's 2014 Budget.Galvan believes that Hargreaves should see an "upsurge in business" as a result of customers beginning to take advantage of the new measures surrounding pensions and ISAs.Credit Suisse has lowered its recommendation for British American Tobacco from 'outperform' to 'neutral' and reduced its forecasts following the company's full-year results last month."The lower [earnings] growth we suggest is reflected in our lower rating. With immediate challenges in emerging markets and FX, we believe that BAT is fairly valued at current levels."Jefferies has retained its 'buy' rating for technical product firm Diploma but warned that currency headwinds will likely result in mid-single digit downgrades to earnings estimates for this year."While this is disappointing, underlying growth is strong and underlying margins should experience a tailwind as the investment for growth programme finishes."BC