On Wednesday I looked at three ASX shares that brokers have given buy ratings to this week.
Unfortunately, not all shares are in favour with them right now. Three that have just been given sell ratings are listed below. Here's why these brokers are bearish on them:
Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT)
According to a note out of UBS, its analysts have retained their sell rating but lifted the price target on this payments company's shares slightly to $17.60. According to the note, the broker was impressed with the performance of its UK operations during the first fourth months of FY 2020. This has led to UBS revising its earnings forecasts. However, this is not enough for the broker to take off its sell rating. The Afterpay share price is up at $31.33 this afternoon.
Ausnet Services Ltd (ASX: AST)
Analysts at Morgans have downgraded this electricity transmission network operator's shares to a reduce rating and trimmed the price target on them to $1.58. According to the note, Ausnet's first half performance was notably weaker than it expected. It posted a 5.3% decline in net profit after tax in the first half. This was even after being boosted by one-offs. This poor performance led to Morgans making significant revisions to its forecasts and ultimately the downgrade. The Ausnet share price is down 3% to $1.82 on Thursday afternoon.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)
A note out of Citi reveals that its analysts have retained their sell rating and cut the price target on this banking giant's shares to $72.50. The broker notes that CBA delivered a first quarter result ahead of expectations earlier this week. However, there were benefits of favourable one-offs during the quarter, so it may be too soon to get excited. In addition to this, the broker believes that its share buyback could be delayed until 2022. Overall, it doesn't believe CBA deserves such a premium valuation over its peers and expects it to narrow in time. The CBA share price is up at $79.46 today.
