Shares of Legg Mason (LM) are off 64 cents, or 2.2%, at $28.94, falling with the general downdraft in financials on worries of rising rates (the Select Sector SPDR Financial exchange traded fund (XLF) is off 4 cents, or 0.3%, at $14.29). and after the company said yesterday it planned to purchase $300 million of its stock as an acceleration of a $1 billion purchase authorization annuonced May 10.
In a note to clients today, Standard & Poor’s analyst Matthew Albrecht raised the firm’s rating on the shares to “Hold” from “Sell,” while raising his target price by $3 to $32.
“While redemptions continue to outpace sales, we think trends are improving, and the discount at which LM shares trade relative to peers will narrow,” writes Albrecht, noting that the stock’s 18.4 times forward earnings per share estimates is “in line” with peers.
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