Top of the Street: EU Insurers, HeidelbergCement, SSE, CRH

Topdanmark A/S

23/06/2020 15:12

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's
top-ranked* analysts:
    
    ** Societe Generale raises HeidelbergCement  HEIG.DE  to
"buy" from "hold" saying it expects the co's earnings to prove
resilient in FY 2020 as cost deflation, cost savings and solid
pricing should alleviate the drop in volumes  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2E020N
    ** RBC upgrades Scotland-based energy company SSE  SSE.L  to
"sector perform" from "underperform" on the newfound clarity on
dividends, a strong mix of networks and growing renewable
activities  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2E01FP
    ** Societe Generale cuts building materials company CRH
 CRH.I  to "hold" from "buy" saying all the positives are now
fully priced in and the investor focus will likely turn to an
uncertain FY 2021

    INITIATIONS 
    ** Berenberg starts coverage of 18 insurers, saying it sees
dividends as the sector's key performance driver with investors
favoring non-life insurers, mainly motor, compared to life
insurers  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2E01MD 
    ** Berenberg initiates Munich RE  MUVGn.DE , M&G  MNG.L ,
Scor  SCOR.PA , Swiss Life Holding  SLHN.S , Swiss RE  SRENH.S ,
Direct Line Insurance Group  DLGD.L , Tryg  TRYG.CO , Aegon
 AEGN.AS  with "buy" 
    ** The broker starts with "hold" rating on Legal & General
Group  LGEN.L , NN Group  NN.AS , Hannover Re  HNRGn.DE ,
Gjensidige Forsikring  GJFS.OL , Topdanmark  TOP.CO , Aviva
 AV.L , Ageas  AGES.BR  and Admiral Group  ADML.L  

     
    
(*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.)


 ((Izabela.Bieszk@tr.com; dagmarah.mackos@thomsonreuters.com
JoaoManuel.VicenteMauricio@thomsonreuters.com))