Coinbase price target cut by Berenberg amid SEC legal showdown

Berenberg Capital Markets cut its price target on Coinbase shares to $39 from $55 in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the crypto exchange earlier this week.

"The reduction in our price target reflects our view that COIN, which we had expected to report weak Q2 23 trading volumes before the SEC filed a lawsuit against it on Tuesday, could see that weakness persist and intensify due to the overhang that the lawsuit has created," Mark Palmer, an equity research analyst for digital assets at Berenberg, wrote in an emailed note. 

Berenberg is maintaining a hold rating on the company. Shares declined 1.1% in Thursday trading at 10am in New York to $52.67, according to TradingView.

Coinbase lawsuit

The SEC brought the lawsuit against Coinbase on Tuesday for allegedly violating securities law in the U.S. 

"Given the potentially significant impact of the lawsuit's outcome on COIN's U.S. operations, we would expect some investors to reduce their exposure to its platform," Palmer said.

"We are reducing our estimates for COIN to reflect our expectation that the company's already weak trading volumes will become weaker, and that it will see a reduction in the amount of assets on its platform as a result of the overhang from the SEC's lawsuit," Palmer continued.