European insurers: Could resume dividend this year - Barclays

Topdanmark A/S

11/06/2020 11:43

** Barclays sees no obstacle to a green light from
regulators for European insurers to resume dividend payments in
Q4 as solvency ratios remain adequate
    ** The broker says dividend hopes are one of the factors
constituting fertile ground for the performance of the
pan-European insurance benchmark index  .SXIP  to recover
    ** Other factors are a credible fiscal stimulus to stabilize
markets and rate momentum in commercial property and casualty
insurance (P&C) and in reinsurance supporting earnings, Barclays
adds
    ** The broker ups UK insurer Lancashire Holdings  LRE.L   to
"overweight" from "equalweight", raising price target by 9% to
950 pence  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DO1F4
    ** It raises price target for Norway's Gjensidige Forsikring
 GJFS.OL  by 1.9% and Topdanmark  TOP.CO  by 1.8%
    ** "We remain positive on European insurers, while
maintaining a quality bias in our recommendations," the broker
says
    ** It cuts price target for Aegon  AEGN.AS  by 7% and trims
price targets for Hannover Re  HNRGn.DE , Munich Re  MUVGn.DE ,
NN Group  NN.AS , Tryg  TRYG.CO , Zurich Insurance  ZURN.S  by
0.2-1.4%


 ((silvia.recchimuzzi@tr.com))