Tuesday broker round-up
5th May 2015 14:59
Lloyds: Exane, UBS and Jefferies reiterated their buy recommendation, with the latter bumping up its price target to 201p from 88p. BT Group: Credit Suisse reiterates outperform and Barclays its overweight stance, with price targets of 495p and 600p, respectively. Aviva: Barclays ups target to 632p
Read moreBroker tips: Insurers, Housebuilders, Lloyds, RBS, Anglo American
5th May 2015 11:43
Barclays Capital has lowered its recommendation for the entire European insurance sector from 'neutral' to 'negative'. The broker said companies are facing "significant and growing" capital and earnings headwinds, particularly in parts of the life insurance sector. As part of the sector-wide downgra
Read moreBarclays lowers European insurers on capital and earnings headwinds
5th May 2015 09:23
Barclays Capital has lowered its recommendation for the entire European insurance sector from 'neutral' to 'negative'. The broker said companies are facing "significant and growing" capital and earnings headwinds, particularly in parts of the life insurance sector. "These challenges are primarily a
Read moreFriday broker round-up
27th Mar 2015 16:29
Aviva: Jefferies reiterates buy and ups target to 630p from 608p. RBS: UBS keeps at neutral and trims target to 375p from 386p. ITV: Exane reiterates add and lifts target to 288p from 267p. Wolseley: Exane reiterates underperform and lowers target to 2,660p from 2,730p. Hunting: JP Morgan Cazenov
Read moreLondon midday: StanChart, energy stocks lead gains ahead of Budget statement
18th Mar 2015 12:03
Stocks were putting in decent gains on Wednesday ahead of the UK Budget and Federal Reserve policy meeting, with the FTSE 100 nearing the 6,900 level. Markets were mostly shrugging off slightly worse-than-expected labour-market data in morning trade, as the jobless rate in Britain unexpectedly held
Read moreBroker tips: Standard Chartered, HSBC, RSA Insurance
18th Mar 2015 11:43
Shares in Standard Chartered were surging on Wednesday after analyst at both Barclays and Bernstein raised their rating on the banking stock. Barclays analysts, which lifted their stance on StanChart from 'equal weight' to 'overweight', said they expect the recent appointment of Bill Winters as chie
Read moreRSA's potential LatAm disposal could be a "game changer", says Berenberg
18th Mar 2015 10:32
The rumoured disposal of RSA's Latin America operation "could be a game changer" for the insurance group and could fetch a higher price than expected, according to Berenberg. The broker said that the potential sale could "unlock" RSA's dividend story, allowing the group to lift its payout ratio soon
Read moreRSA considers pulling the plug on Latin American business
17th Mar 2015 11:19
RSA Insurance Group is reportedly considering disposing of its Latin American business as it continues to restructure itself. According to the Financial Times, RSA's chief executive Stephen Hester, former boss at Royal Bank of Scotland, has instructed Goldman Sachs to handle a potential disposal of
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Exane boosts StanChart, sees buy-backs at Glencore
9th Mar 2015 14:04
Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas have hiked their price target on shares of Standard Chartered to 940p from 875p but write that that the chances of a dividend cut are now greater than 50%. On the plus side of things, the broker adds that the lender can now probably avoid a capital increase. On the subj
Read moreRSA Insurance chopped to sell from neutral by Goldman Sachs
9th Mar 2015 13:03
RSA Insurance got the chop at Goldman Sachs on Monday with its rating now down to 'sell' from 'neutral'. The bank said RSA's full year 2014 results confirmed that despite making progress on restructuring and its balance sheet clean-up, headwinds to operating earnings have worsened materially. "Desp
Read moreBroker tips: Shell, ITV, RSA Insurance, G4S
9th Mar 2015 11:56
UBS said it sees less upside at Royal Dutch Shell as it lowered its recommendation on the oil major from 'buy' to 'neutral'. "Through [recent] outperformance and the more aggressive response to the challenging environment among some peers we see the shares as offering less relative value and hence a
Read moreMonday broker round-up
9th Mar 2015 11:29
Barclays: Charles Stanley reiterates accumulate. Nomura stays at buy, ups target to 81p from 78p. Lloyds: Investec reiterates buy and 85p target price. RSA: Credit Suisse reiterates outperform recommendation and hikes target to 525p from 475p. Goldman downgrades to sell from neutral. ARM Holdings:
Read moreCredit Suisse cuts RSA target, but highlights M&A potential
9th Mar 2015 11:29
Credit Suisse has lowered its target price for RSA Insurance from 525p to 475p after "disappointing" 2014 results from the company last month, though it maintained an 'outperform' rating on the stock. The bank said RSA's valuation - with shares trading at 10.8 times earnings - is at a discount to ot
Read moreLondon close: Mixed data, weak earnings pull FTSE below 6,900
3rd Mar 2015 16:33
A mixed batch of economic data and weak corporate earnings gave investors the excuse to take profits on Tuesday, as markets continued to retreat from their recent record highs. London's FTSE 100, which had started the day in positive territory, swung sharply into the red by mid-morning and extended
Read moreSector movers: RSA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Direct Line drag non-life insurers lower
3rd Mar 2015 15:28
Non-life insurers were out of favour on Tuesday as a broker downgrade at RSA and a cool reaction to results from Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Direct Line weighed on sentiment. General insurer RSA was trading 2.7% lower after analysts at Bernstein lowered their rating on the stock from 'outperform' to
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