KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 15): Macquarie analyst Azita Nazrene upgraded the recommendation on Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd to neutral from underperform.

Nazrene raised the target price to RM7.78 from RM7.39, implying an 8.5 percent decrease from the last regular trade. The target is 16 percent below the consensus average of RM9.29. Malaysia Airports had 11 buy recommendations, 6 holds and 4 sells previously.

Investors who followed Nazrene's recommendation would have received a 3.9 percent return in the past year previously, compared with the 35 percent return on the shares.

In the past four years and 10 months, Macquarie has rated Malaysia Airports underperform twice, neutral four times and outperform three times. The shares fell an average 12 percent in the periods rated underperform, rose an average 3.7 percent in the periods rated neutral and rose an average 27 percent in the periods rated outperform.

Analysts raised their consensus one-year target price for the stock by 2.3 percent in the past three months. Forecasts range from RM7.30 to RM11.18.