Citi upgrades National Grid to 'buy' pointing to small premium versus RAB

Analysts at Citi upgraded their recommendation for shares of National Grid to 'buy', pointing to the significant valuation discount versus peers.

They also bumped up their target price for the power company by 3% to 970.0p.

Their move followed regulatory clarity in the UK with regulator Ofgem's proposal "sufficiently attractive" to warrant an acceptance.

And yet, the share price was implying just a 3% premium to the company's Regulatory Asset Base, against about a 20% premium for its UK water peers - a gap that Citi believed should close.