Investec has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation on Lloyds after the government sold a further tranche of shares in the state-backed lender on Wednesday.The broker, which kept an 85p target price for the shares, said that Lloyds offers "reasonable upside for a relatively low-risk stock". Analyst Ian Gordon believes that the market should begin to respond positively - "after the initial digestion" of the UKFI sale - to a sharp return in profit in the first quarter of 2014 and beyond.Numis Securities has lowered its rating for Royal Bank of Scotland from 'add' to 'hold' and slashed its target price from 374p to 300p. Analyst Mike Trippitt said that while potential capital generation should provide some support to the shares, the stock's valuation "looks stretched". He applauded the company's "new direction of travel" but warned that the results of the turnaround will be "long-dated".Panmure Gordon has maintained a 'sell' rating on cruise operator Carnival despite the company's first-quarter results coming in ahead of expected."Despite this improvement in first-quarter trading, the guidance range has only been narrowed [...] with management still expecting a full-year net revenue yield decline, with costs slightly up year-on-year reflecting the significant capacity increase in the Caribbean, in addition to difficult trading in Japan," Panmure said. After an impressive 272% outperformance of the FTSE 100 in the last four years, UBS has called time on shares of ITV, downgrading the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral'. The bank has cut its target price for the stock from 230p to 210p."We have been positive on ITV through this time, however now feel that the market is pricing in much of the advertising recovery, Studios turnaround, balance sheet restructuring and some benefit from expansion in pay-tv, therefore we view continued outperformance is less likely," they said.Oriel Securities is reviewing its recommendation on Carpetright after the floor covering retailer warned on annual profits.Oriel said profits could recover materially in a short space of time, but added: "Risks to forecasts remain and our 'hold' stance is under review."BC
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