St James's Place shares rise as Barclays names stock as top pick
St James's Place's (SJP) share price was extending gains on Friday after a strong third-quarter update the previous session, with Barclays Capital providing a boost after naming the wealth manager as its top pick within the European insurance sector.
FTSE 100
7,823.08
09:15 19/04/24
St James's Place
408.60p
09:14 19/04/24
The stock was up nearly 4% at 740.75p by 12:43, after a 3.6% gain on Thursday. The recent gains in the stock mean that it is now at similar levels to the start of the year, having pulled back after hitting a high of over 900p in March.
The company said on Thursday that funds under management (FUM) reached a record £49.1bn by 30 September, up 17% on the year before and 11% higher than the start of 2014. Net inflows were up 23% over the quarter at £1.3bn, as total new single investments grew 19% year-on-year to £1.8bn.
"Throughout SJP's recent period of underperformance, we continued to see its underlying fundamental drivers as undiminished," said Barclays analysts Alan Devlin and Chris Roberts.
"The metrics that will determine whether SJP is a winner in the long term will be recruitment, flows and FUM, which in turn will drive its cash generation and dividend."
They said that Thursday's statement confirmed that this underlying performance has "continued unabated".
"The period of underperformance, accompanied by the continuing progress on key metrics, has left the SJP investment case more compelling than at any time since our double upgrade to 'overweight' early in 2013. We reiterate SJP as our top pick within European insurance, with 28% upside to our new 914p price target."