UPDATE: Hilliard Lyons Upgrades HCP to Neutral on Valuation

In a report published Friday, Hilliard Lyons analyst John Roberts upgraded the rating on

from Underperform to Neutral. In the report, Hilliard Lyons noted, “Following the recent decline in the share price, we are upgrading HCP to Neutral from Underperform. As we noted in our last report, HCP shares are significantly undervalued versus its peer group, and in fact is now valued more attractively than even most of the smaller healthcare REITs. As such, while the shares are still a little dear on an absolute basis, they now look outright cheap on a relative basis. At under 13.2 times the shares are now trading within the appropriate trading range (9-14 times) based on 2014 FFO, albeit at the higher end. Among the consolidators in the group we would now suggest anyone wanting exposure to the group choose HCP shares.” HCP closed on Thursday at $42.08.