AJ Bell (LON:AJB) Earns “Hold” Rating from Berenberg Bank

AJ Bell (LON:AJB)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by analysts at Berenberg Bank in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a GBX 490 price objective on the stock. Berenberg Bank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 5.47% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on AJB. Beaufort Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and set a GBX 490 price objective on shares of AJ Bell in a research note on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 520 price target on shares of AJ Bell in a report on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 590 to GBX 625 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of AJ Bell from GBX 625 to GBX 570 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on AJ Bell from GBX 440 to GBX 475 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 528.75.

AJ Bell Stock Performance

Shares of LON:AJB opened at GBX 464.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 471.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 506.45. The company has a market cap of £1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.46, a quick ratio of 7.16 and a current ratio of 3.63. AJ Bell has a one year low of GBX 355.20 and a one year high of GBX 578.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Peter Birch bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 490 per share, with a total value of £19,600. 23.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AJ Bell News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting AJ Bell this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company reports much stronger-than-expected customer and asset inflows: assets beat forecasts by ~£2bn and new customer numbers materially exceeded estimates, underpinning revenue growth prospects. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Platform momentum: quarterly gross inflows in the platform segment rose 27.7%, signalling continued demand for AJ Bell’s platform services. This supports medium‑term AUM and fee revenue expansion. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support: Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating with a GBX 600 target, offering upside from current levels and reinforcing confidence among growth-oriented investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Berenberg reiterated a “hold” rating with a GBX 490 target — a more cautious stance that sits between current trading and Shore’s more optimistic view, adding mixed analyst signals. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Management warnings and policy risk: CEO publicly urged the government not to “spook” investors and highlighted that persistent Budget uncertainty is at odds with AJ Bell’s mission to boost retail investment — comments that may weigh on sentiment given the potential for regulatory/tax changes to hit retail flows. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Pre‑Budget market nervousness: Coverage notes that recent inflows were partly offset by pre‑Budget panic among investors — this political/regulatory uncertainty is the principal near‑term risk to customer acquisition and AUM growth. Read More.

AJ Bell Company Profile

Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK, operating at scale in both the advised and direct-to-consumer markets.

Our purpose is to help people invest by providing them with easy access to Pensions, ISAs and General investment accounts, great customer service and competitive charges.

Our two core platform propositions are AJ Bell in the D2C market and AJ Bell Investcentre in the advised market, which both provide access to a broad investment range including shares and other instruments traded on the major stock exchanges around the world, as well as all mainstream collective investments available in the UK and our own range of AJ Bell funds.