Westhouse upgrades ITV from 'neutral' to 'add'

9th Mar 2015 10:01

ITV's share price was given a boost on Monday by Westhouse Securities which upgraded its stance on the shares from 'neutral' to 'add' after an "impressive" performance by the broadcaster and producers in 2014."ITV's prelims detailed an impressive showing during 2014, contained an upbeat outlook assessment and news of a £250m special dividend," said analyst Roddy Davidson."We remain bullish on the group's fundamentals, have materially increased our [earnings] and [dividend] forecasts and expect attractive growth in these metrics with the former also likely to be boosted by acquisitions."Davidson said ITV has an "unrivalled ability to deliver a largest mass-market audience".The analyst raised his target price for the stock from 228p to 267p, which suggests an 11% improvement on current levels.The stock was up 0.5% at 247.8p in morning trade.