The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, March 1, edition that ATB Capital Markets analyst Chris Murray has lowered his recommendation for Stantec to "sector perform" from "outperform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Murray gave his share target a $5 boost to $120. Analysts on average target the shares at $119.91. Mr. Murray continues to see Stantec as "well positioned to benefit from a strong demand environment and active M&A pipeline." He believes its current valuation is "adequately reflecting the company's growth and margin outlook." Mr. Murray says in a note: "Recently closed M&A activity prompted management to increase net revenue guidance to 11 per cent to 15 per cent (from 7 to 11 per cent) in 2024, reaffirming prior organic growth and margin targets. Management reiterated a positive outlook by region/sector, with growth expected to be led by the U.S. and Global segments. ... Management reiterated that demand remains healthy across its core regions and business lines and is not seeing material project cancellations and deferrals due to macro uncertainty. The company is hiring at an elevated rate, reinforcing the strength of the demand environment in core regions."