UBS starts Beazley at 'neutral', cuts Amlin to 'sell'

17th Jun 2015 13:09

UBS initiated coverage on Beazley with a 'neutral' rating and 310p target price and downgraded Amlin to 'sell' from 'neutral', cutting its price target to 440p from 460p.The Swiss broker noted that Beazley has established itself as one of the premium stocks in the sector in recent years, with a strong track record now rewarded with a premium valuation.It said that while it does see positives versus peers, particularly Beazley's attractive US presence, at the current valuation, this is reflected in the price.As far as Amlin is concerned, UBS said the company has struggled to improve the profit contribution from hubs outside of London and Bermuda, and there are still question marks around some divisions."This is proving difficult in the current soft cycle and leaves Amlin without a clear strategy for growth outside of reinsurance/big-ticket insurance lines, which are under the most pressure," the bank said.At 13:20, Beazley shares were down 1.5% at 295.60p, while Amlin was down 2.1% at 475.30p.