Top of the Street: Chr. Hansen, Nordic insurers, Prudential

Topdanmark A/S

03/10/2019 10:39

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** 5-star broker Handelsbanken raises Chr. Hansen  CHRH.CO 
to "hold" from "sell"  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O1D2, calling it a solid company
with an attractive product portfolio, but with 2019 organic
growth weaker than expected 
    ** 5-star broker Citigroup cuts oilfield services company
John Wood Group  WG.L  to "neutral" from "buy", saying that
uncertainty about the pace of recovery in both margins and free
cash flow generation remains a concern  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O189

    
    INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS
    
    ** Macquarie initiates coverage of Prudential  PRU.L  with
an "outperform" rating, saying the insurer remains a pre-eminent
player in the Asian region
    ** Berenberg initiates Ingenico Group  INGC.PA  with "buy",
seeing the French company as a diversified payment service
provider with a solid turnaround plan that has started well
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O0M8
    ** Credit Suisse starts coverage of Denmark's Tryg  TRYG.CO 
at "underperform"  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O0KJ, saying its weak discretionary
capital position and demanding valuation make it an unattractive
investment 
    ** CS initiates coverage of Danish insurer Topdanmark
 TOP.CO  with "underperform" due to its excessive valuations
    ** CS initiates Finnish insurer Sampo Oyj  SAMPO.HE  at
"neutral"  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O0KJ, concerned by its weak discretionary
capital position and the risk that Nordea poses to funding
Sampo’s dividend 
    ** CS initiates coverage of Oslo-based Gjensidige Forsikring
 GJFS.OL  with an "outperform" rating, citing the group's
exposure to pricing improvements in Norway and capital
flexibility with the potential for special dividends
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26O0KJ
    
    
(*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.)


 ((masha.trybus@thomsonreuters.com;
Kostas.Boras@thomsonreuters.com))