With the company's U.K. focus in question post windfall-taxes and as international mergers and acquisitions are yet to be realized, investors will be looking for updates on the company's strategic direction, the analysts say. "Further commitment to share buybacks, given stock valuation, would be one alternative if value-accretive M&A is slow to appear," the analysts say. Jefferies rates the stock at buy and lowers its price target to 340 pence from 360 pence. The technology could assist hackers in driving attack speed and strength, for example by customizing phishing attacks, building more sophisticated malware, creating deepfake data, etc, the analysts note. Numis cuts its price target on the stock to 210 pence from 380 pence, in line with the average for its legal services peers.

Source: Wall Street Journal July 10, 2023 13:36 UTC