WPP share price rises amid upbeat analyst comments

Shares in WPP (LON:WPP) have started the new week on the front foot, as Barclays lifted its rating on the shares. The move came after the advertising giant updated investors on its first-quarter performance last week, posting a drop in revenue, while reaffirming its full-year guidance.

As of 10:34 BST, WPP’s share price had added 2.24 percent to 976.40p. The stock is outperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.23 percent lower at 7,411.29 points. The advertising giant’s shares have given up more than 15 percent of their value over the past year, as compared with about a 1.2-percent drop in the Footsie.

Barclays lifts rating on advertising giant

Barclays hiked its rating on the advertising giant from ‘equal weight’ to ‘overweight’ today, further lifting its target on WPP’s share price from 1,000p to 1,100p. Sharecast reports that the analysts have pointed to the disposal of the ad giant’s Kantar business, ‘some confidence’ in management’s ability to turn the business around, the stock’s valuation, as well as the fact that organic growth is ‘not getting worse’.

“On a relative price-to-earnings basis, WPP is close to an all-time low and we would argue that the shares are pricing negative growth rate and margin contraction forever,” the broker pointed out.

DB and CS hike targets on WPP share price

Deutsche Bank, which rates WPP as a ‘buy,’ meanwhile hiked its valuation on the shares by 60p to 1,070p. Sharecast quoted the broker as commenting that “investors should increasingly become comfortable that the business is being turned around”.

Credit Suisse followed suit, hiking its price target on the ad giant from 1,015p to 1,050p in the wake of last week’s results, while maintaining a ‘neutral’ rating on the shares, arguing that “just meeting expectations is a positive,” as quoted by the newswire.