Shore upgrades Hargreaves Lansdown to 'hold'

Shore Capital raised Hargreaves Lansdown to 'hold' after a fall in the investment platform's share price.

Hargreaves' shares briefly exceeded £19 after its well-received annual results in June but have since fallen below £16, Shore's estimate of fair value.

The shares have fallen because of weaker equity markets and better understanding of the company's exposure to low interest rates, Shore analyst Paul McGinnnis said. He upgraded the shares from 'sell' and kept his price target of £15.75.

The market has recognised its earlier over-exuberance based on the short-term windfall in retail share trading to focus on the slower but potentially long-term effect of prolonged low interest rates on returns from holding client cash. McGinnis had downgraded Hargreaves to 'sell' after the results.

"Without making any change to forecasts, we reverse the 'sell' recommendation introduced in our post-results note," McGinnis wrote in a note to clients. "We continue to regard the HL business model to be one of the best in the entire UK market and consider the company to be well-aligned to long term growth drivers, the negative stance being a value call."

Hargreaves Lansdown shares rose 3.5% to £15.93 at 14:34 BST.