FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX Broker) - Flatexdegiro shares benefited from a positive analyst commentary on Thursday and rose to their highest level in more than two years. Most recently, the online broker's shares were up 2.3 percent at 14.09 euros, making them the top performer on the SDax. They have also extended their recovery since the beginning of September to around 18 percent.

The French investment bank Exane BNP Paribas upgraded Flatexdegiro from "Neutral" to "Outperform" and raised its target price from 13.50 to 18.00 euros. Although the share has already risen by a quarter in 2024, it is still lagging behind its competitor Swissquote, wrote analyst Christoph Blieffert.

With a new CEO, an improved management structure and long-term opportunities from the highly probable upcoming equity pension in Germany, Blieffert sees a lot of opportunities.

Flatexdegiro has experienced turbulent times on the stock exchange. Driven by the trading boom among private investors during the coronavirus pandemic, the share price rose from around EUR 6 to almost EUR 30 in 2021. However, rising interest rates subsequently caused the share price to plummet again. In addition, Bafin identified deficiencies in operations and subjected the online broker to a special audit - the management came under pressure and the former CEO Frank Niehage resigned.

At the end of August, Flatexdegiro appointed Oliver Behrens, who had previously headed the European business of US bank Morgan Stanley for many years, as his successor. The choice of Behrens was well received on the stock exchange, the share price also rose significantly to over 13 euros, but then fell back again.

Thanks to the recent gains, however, investors can now look forward to a price gain of just over a quarter since the beginning of the year. The online broker is currently valued at around 1.55 billion euros on the stock exchange. Flatex founder Bernd Fortsch, who was behind Niehage's departure, still directly and indirectly holds almost a fifth of the shares./edh/zb

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