Ascendas REIT cut to "hold", target lowered to $2.42 by OCBC

Stock Name: Ascendas Reit
Company Name: ASCENDAS REAL ESTATE INV TRUST

Research House: OCBC

Price Call: HOLD

Target Price: 2.42

SINGAPORE (Jan 23): OCBC Investment has downgraded Ascendas REIT to "hold" from "buy" and trimmed its price target to $2.42 from $2.45.

Current valuations are "fair" as the stock now trades at 1.24 times FY2015 book value, according to OCBC analysts Wong Teck Ching and Eli Lee, who have also lowered their distribution per unit estimates by 1.8% for FY2015 and 2.1% for FY2016 to reflect expected lower net property income margins.

A-REIT's December-quarter DPU came in at 3.59 cents, up from 3.54 cents a year earlier, while revenue rose 11.2% to $171.7 million.