BofA Securities: Gives Agricultural Bank Of China (01288) a "Neutral" rating, raises target price to HK$6.06

Bank of America Securities released a research report stating that it has raised its profit forecast for Agricultural Bank Of China (01288) from 2026 to 2028 by 2% to 3%, and has raised its Hong Kong stock target price from 5.8 Hong Kong dollars to 6.06 Hong Kong dollars. The target price for the A shares of Agricultural Bank Of China (601288.SH) has been raised from 6.4 RMB to 6.67 RMB. The bank has given a "neutral" rating to the H shares and a "underperform" rating to the A shares. The report states that Agricultural Bank Of China's first-quarter net profit, excluding Tier 1 capital bonds, increased by 4.5% year-on-year to 75.2 billion RMB (remaining the same), accounting for 25.3% of the bank's full-year forecast. Core profit increased by a strong 13.2% year-on-year, accounting for 32% of the full-year forecast, mainly driven by a quarterly expansion of 6 basis points in net interest margin to 1.26%. Net interest income increased by 6.3% quarter-on-quarter during the period, with loans increasing by 5%. Enterprise loans and retail loans increased by 8% and 4.4% respectively quarter-on-quarter.