The Ashtead share price - here is what analysts think

Trading recommendations from company analysts can offer a glimpse of what the experts think the future holds. Their 'buy', 'hold' and 'sell' ratings reflect their views about the likely future performance of the stocks they cover - and how the share prices will move as a result.

For investors, these kinds of 'smart money' signals can be a useful consideration when it comes to deciding whether to buy or sell a stock...

Take Ashtead (LON:AHT) as an example. Shares in the company have risen by 1.39% over the past month and they are currently trading at 4,237p. But what do the analysts that cover the company think?

Based on the broker 'consensus', there could be reasons to believe that the positive recent trend will continue. In terms of trading recommendations, Ashtead currently has:

• 4 Buy recommendations

• 7 Hold recommendations

• 0 Sell recommendations

This suggests that analysts are generally upbeat about the outlook.

At its current price of 4,237p, shares in Ashtead are trading at a discount of -35.5% to its 52 week high price. The 1-year performance of the shares has been -17.7%.

While analyst forecasts can be a useful guide to what City 'experts' think about a stock's near term future, they can be unreliable. To get a better idea about the strengths and weaknesses of Ashtead it's worth doing some investigation yourself. Indeed, we've identified some areas of concern with Ashtead that you can find out about here.