Jefferies Lowers Invesco (IVZ) Price Target But Likes Long Term Outlook

Jefferies & Company analysts Daniel T. Fannon and Surinder Thind maintained their Buy rating for shares of Invesco Plc IVZ and lowered the price target to $25 per share, down from the previous price target of $27 per share. The analysts said that Invesco's long term fundamentals were improving, as the company benefited from solid investment performance, better distribution and carefully managed expenses. However, the analysts also noted that recent market volatility is likely to slow investors' return to equities, as they reassess the level of risk they are comfortable with. The Jefferies & Company analysts wrote, "Long-term investment performance across many of IVZ's key funds remains solid, with the majority of these funds performing in the top 1/2 of their respective Morningstar category. While this positions the company well to benefit from a longer-term cycle of inflows into equities, we believe the recent volatility in the equity markets will likely slow the rotation into equities as investors re-assess how quickly they wish to move up the risk spectrum. However, longer-term IVZ remains one of our favorite picks as core fundamentals remain strong and financial synergies from the pending Van Kampen acquisition are realized." Shares of Invesco were up more than 2% at $18.07 per share on Thursday morning.