Barclays restarts coverage of Harbour Energy at 'overweight'

Analysts at Barclays restarted coverage of Harbour Energy with a recommendation to 'Overweight', pointing to the outfit's cash generation and expected payouts as part of the rational behind their stance.

Barclays also said that Harbour Energy, previously known as Premier Oil, had the "scale, breadth and balance sheet needed to be an attractive investment proposition in what remains a structurally challenged Energy sub-sector."

On their estimates, at an oil price of $60 per barrel, the UK's biggest oil and gas producer would be able to generate free cash flow of over $1.1bn in 2022.

That would be enough for the firm strengthen its balance sheet, enhance its portfolio and meet its targeted shareholder returns.

For the 2021 financial year, the broker's analysts had penciled-in a dividend of 1.0p per share or approximately $240m, putting the shares on a dividend yield of about 4%.

Their target price for Harbour Energy was 30.0p.