Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) and M&G PLC (LSE:MNG) are rated as ‘buys’ amongst the UK’s life insurance market, as analysts at Deutsche Bank highlighted its expectations for growth.
The German bank meanwhile rates Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.) and Phoenix Group Holdings PLC (LSE:PHNX) as ‘hold’.
“We want more,” demands KBW. Analysts at the Stifel subsidiary were referring to Nationwide’s 218p (plus a 2p divi) per share surprise cash offer for Virgin Money at a £2.8 billion valuation.
“We believe that this offer is inadequate for what is the leading quoted UK challenger bank,” analysts said of the offer that was first lodged in March.
Stifel remains optimistic about DFS Furniture PLC (LSE:DFS), maintaining a "buy" recommendation and setting a price target of 150p — 33% above the current share price.
This bullish stance comes even as the investment bank has revised its sales and profit forecasts downward for the current financial year, with sales and profit expected to drop by 2% and 30% respectively.
Shares in Sirius Real Estate Limited (LSE:SRE, JSE:SRE, OTC:SRRLF) were in positive territory following a trading statement on Monday from the property group that seemed to pass muster with the market.
Investment banks Panmure Gordon and Peel Hunt appeared suitably impressed, with the former stating Sirius 'has the levers to pull to drive results'.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) is poised to maintain its full-year financial guidance without adjustments when it announces its first-quarter results later this month (April 25), according to insights from Shore Capital, which expects any significant updates to be unveiled at the drugs giant's capital markets day on May 21.
The company's cancer drugs, Imfinzi and Imjudo, are expected to show a robust performance, despite mandatory price cuts in Japan affecting the former.
A staggering $1 trillion could be the annual cost to the US healthcare system if 40% of Americans with obesity begin treatment with GLP-1 drugs at current prices, according to Dr Jonathan Gruber, the Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
This figure, which rivals the entire budget of the Medicare programme, highlights the potential fiscal challenges posed by these promising yet costly treatments for obesity.
Shares in Crest Nicholson PLC (LSE:CRST) were up 5% at midday following an upgrade by a leading investment bank.
UBS, in a note to clients, said the current valuation of stock in the housebuilder represented an attractive entry point for prospective investors.
Deutsche Bank has taken the clippers to the water sector with all of the three listed groups having their price targets lowered.
In what was an otherwise bullish update of prospects for European utilities, the German broker has cut its target for Pennon to 700p from 760p, Severn Trent to 2,600p from 2,700p and United Utilities to 1,060p from 1,110p.
Shares in PageGroup PLC (LSE:PAGE) fell in the wake of an unfavourable (though not unexpectedly so) first-quarter trading update.
The largest of the UK’s three major listed recruitment firms saw gross profits fall by 13% to £219 million in the first quarter, with the UK as the worst-performing region.