ITV downgraded by BarCap to 'equal weight'

15th May 2015 09:12

ITV's share price rebounded slightly on Friday after an underwhelming first-quarter update the previous day which caused Barclays Capital to cut its rating on the stock from 'overweight' to 'equal weight'.The broker increased its target price for the shares slightly from 250.4p to 260p to integrate numbers from the recent acquisition of Talpa Media.However, BarCap said that 'in-line' results from the broadcaster and producer were "not good enough" for it to maintain a positive recommendation."ITV has been an EPS momentum stock over the past three years and we believe this is still how the stock will behave in the coming months," the broker said."Our February upgrade was based on our conviction that consensus EPS was too low based on strong advertising trends. The story has largely played out and we struggle to see where a further source of EPS upgrades will come from in the coming months."BarCap said it still sees ITV as a well-managed company, but reckons there will be a better opportunity to buy the shares.The stock was up 1.8% at 262p by 09:45 on Friday.