Barclays Capital is still on the fence with its investment rating for Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.), the composite insurer that reported its third-quarter figures earlier this week.
The bank said the recent trading update beat its expectations for profit margins and property and casualty (P&C) business.
However, it was left underwhelmed by the performance of the life division, particularly the level of annuity volumes.
It also seemed to voice some frustration on the lack of clarity on the quantum of capital returns from Aviva.
Barclays repeated its ‘equal-weight’ recommendation on shares in the insurer, which it believes are worth 545p.
Given that valuation represents a 26% premium to the current share price (431.2p), one wonders why the bank’s analysts are being so circumspect with their call on the stock.
Of the 19 analysts tracked by Proactive as following Aviva, 11 have positive recommendations and seven are ‘neutral’. There is only one negative call.
The consensus price target is 491p.