Allianz on track to hit targets after quarterly profit beat

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -German insurance group Allianz on Thursday posted a better than expected 7.5% rise in second-quarter net profit and said it was on track to meet its full-year target.

Strength at the company's property and casualty business balanced out claims resulting from natural catastrophes, it said, adding that third-party assets under management rose to the highest level since the first quarter of 2022.

Allianz, among Europe's largest financial services groups and operator of the giant PIMCO brand, reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.51 billion euros ($2.75 billion) in the three months to June 30, beating analyst expecations of 2.37 billion euros.

"These results should highlight the underlying quality of the business," said analysts at Deutsche Bank, which rates Allianz a "buy".

Shares in the company opened 1.6% higher.

Allianz also reiterated its 2024 operating profit target of between 13.8 billion euros and 15.8 billion euros.

KBW analysts said that the results suggest Allianz will land in the top end of that range.

Late on Wednesday Allianz said it was expanding its share buyback programme this year to 1.5 billion euros, up from an original 1 billion euros.

($1 = 0.9148 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander HuebnerEditing by Kirsti Knolle and David Goodman)