Broker tips: Lloyds/RBS, BT, Sainsbury

Barclays Capital (BarCap) has raised both its ratings for part-nationalised lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as the government begins to come up with a plan to re-privatise the banks following their bailout in 2008.BarCap has upgraded Lloyds from 'underweight' to 'equal weight' and hiked its target price from 40p to 65p. As for RBS, its rating has been lifted from 'equal weight' to 'overweight' and its target price raised from 300p to 370p. Credit Suisse has raised its target price for telecommunications giant BT Group from 300p to 350p and maintained its 'outperform' rating on the stock.He highlighted "three key reasons" to expect upside from the stock, including: an accelerated take-up of broadband; the company's TV strategy which is likely to slow line loss; and an expected revenue rebound from Global Services division in an economic recovery.Jefferies has retained its 'hold' rating for Sainsbury saying that strong prior-year comparatives for the supermarket group may present problems in the coming months.Nevertheless, the broker noted that the company is still performing well when compared to rival supermarket chains as it continues to outperform on LFL momentum, "albeit by a much reduced rate in Q1 versus Q4".