Berenberg stays at 'hold' on National Grid, sees shares 'fully valued'
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 24 May 2023
(Sharecast News) - Analysts at Berenberg reiterated their 'hold' recommendation and 1,100.0p target price on shares of National Grid, the British electricity and gas utility.
In their opinion, the company undoubtedly had a "huge" role to plat in the energy transition, both in the UK and the US.
After all, the company was investing nearly £8bn per year, double the run-rate seen over the previous decade.
There was also scope for even higher spend given demand for renewables connections, network upgrades and to accommodate other decarbonisation strategies.
But they judged that the shares were "fully valued".
"Regulation, politics and financing might limit the extent to which National Grid can capitalise on additional opportunities, especially with so much already on its plate," they pointed out.
The outlook for underlying earnings per share out to 2025/26 was "flattish" and inflation-linked dividend per share growth looked "moderate" to them given projections for 8-10% growth per year in its regulated asset base.
Curtailing EPS growth were the nearly 25% uptake of the scrip dividend and a non-cash drag from the UK's capital tax allowances.
National Grid's leverage - despite being manageable - was "high" and also limited the investment case, they said.
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