Top of the Street: Lloyds, Hammerson, SSE, Schroders, Gjensidige, Covestro

Gjensidige Forsikring ASA

04/10/2024 14:04

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** Barclays cuts Hammerson  HMSO.L  to "equal-weight" from
"overweight" seeing lower earnings growth and yield for the UK
real estate firm than for its peers
    ** In a sector note, Barclays adds it sees no signs of
strong recovery in real estate deals in Europe
    ** Jefferies downgrades SSE  SSE.L  to "hold" from "buy"
after the British power generator and network operator's H1
trading update, saying the risk-reward on the stock is now more
balanced
    ** Exane BNP Paribas raises UK fund manager Schroders
 SDR.L  to "neutral" from "underperform" saying its momentum is
improving, with prospects for "decent" wealth flows
    ** Citi downgrades Norwegian insurer Gjensidige  GJFG.OL  to
"sell" from "neutral" saying the market's expectations for 2025
margin improvement seem too optimistic
    ** It also cuts German chemicals maker Covestro  1COV.DE  to
"neutral" from "buy" after Abu Dhabi's ADNOC said on Tuesday it
would buy the firm
    
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    ** Goldman Sachs initiates Lloyds  LLOY.L  with "neutral"
and says the British bank's relative dependence on net interest
income should prove an advantage going forward as long-term
rates remain above 3.5%
    
(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. The scale is
from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being the best. Analysts are ranked
on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of
recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)

 (Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn and Amir Orusov)
 ((Greta.RosenFondahn@thomsonreuters.com;
Amir.Orusov@thomsonreuters.com))