BUZZ-Top of the Street: Maersk, Akzo, Schroders, Telenet

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:

** Goldman Sachs cuts Maersk to "neutral" from "buy", pointing to a "soft demand (and consequently pricing) backdrop"

** Akzo Nobel: Citigroup cuts to "sell," says the current self-help strategy to achieve a 450bp margin uplift is unsustainable

** Jefferies and Barclays cuts Schroders to "hold" from "buy" and "equal weight" from "overweight" respectively, flagging concerns on flows

** Telenet Group Holding: KBC Securities cuts to "reduce" from "hold" on earnings risk, following broadbank tariff charges

** Jefferies also downgrades Jupiter Fund Management to "underperform" from "hold", saying key personnel risk can be acute

** Lafargeholcim: 5-star rated Barclays analyst raises to "equal weight" from "underweight" on strong cement sector performance

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** JP Morgan resumes the coverage of Quilter with "overweight," due to the company's attractive market position boosted by the acquisition of Lighthouse

(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. Scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being best. Analysts ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)