Barclays, Sage and Eden Research: What brokers said today

Shares in The Sage Group PLC (LSE:SGE), the Newcastle-based accounting software company, were trading sideways after a downgrade from a leading investment bank.

Barclays Capital changed its recommendation to 'underweight' from 'neutral', stating: "ARR [annual recurring revenue] growth and the pace of margin expansion peaking, combined with an elevated valuation, all suggest it's as good as it gets for Sage shares."

Barclays has received an earnings downgrade from broker Shore Capital ahead of its full-year results on 20 February.

The broker has kept its 'buy' recommendation but chopped its earnings and dividend expectations by 9% to 27.2p and 8.2p respectively.

Share in Eden Research PLC (AIM:EDEN, OTCQB:EDNSF) were up 7% in afternoon trading after the green biopesticides group delivered a better-than-expected financial performance as part of a broader progress report.

In the wake of the update, Cavendish, the company's broker repeated its 20p share price target, which represents a 233% premium to the current stock price.