Broker snap: Target price hike for BT

Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the target price for BT on Friday following the announcement of an Indian deal.The broker has hiked up its target price for the UK telecoms giant by 20% on the day the group agreed to sell a 5.5% stake in Indian IT outsourcing company Tech Mahindra to Mahindra & Mahindra. Currently BT has a 29.9% shareholding in the group.Exane says that following a strong first half performance, it has upgraded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by around 3%, and earnings per share by around 18% in 2012 and 2013. Free cash flow estimates are also upgraded by 8%. "We continue to expect line loss to improve and revenue to stabilise", the broker said.The broker reduces its dividend expectations by 5% for the current year "reflecting the company's pursuit of a credit rating upgrade and the associated financial flexibility".However, the dividend forecasts are increased by 40% to 12.9p from 2013, equivalent to a forward dividend yield of 8%.The target price is raised by 20% to 265p and the stock is given the broker's 'outperform' rating.