BUZZ-Top of the Street: Reckitt Benckiser, E.ON, Alfa Laval, KBC

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

** 5-star Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) analyst Iain Simpson cuts Reckitt Benckiser to 'hold', says co will struggle to achieve a premium to sector until near-term headwinds from Scholl resolved

** E.ON: Kepler Cheuvreux cuts to 'reduce', as with weak bond yields, balance sheet relief from lower provisions appears less likely

** Based on its new EPS estimates 8-11 pct above 2018-19 consensus, top-ranked Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) ups Alfa Laval (LSE: 0NNF.L - news) by two notches to "overweight". Brokerage says co's Energy and Marine divisions are likely to benefit from a stronger environment

** Koninklijke KPN (Amsterdam: KPN.AS - news) : Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) upgrades to 'overweight', flags Dutch telco regulator shows pragmatism around four-to-three Mobile consolidation

** Kepler Cheuvreux downgrades KBC Groep to "hold" as it expects distribution estimates to remain at 50 pct for 2017 and 2018, and no decisive capital mgmt actions to be made before H1 2020

** HSBC cuts National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) to 'hold', as the company is now back to being a stable utility in the UK after selling a 61 pct stake in its Gas Distribution business in previous FY

** Centrica (Frankfurt: A0DK6K - news) : HSBC raises to 'hold', citing no tariff caps in the Queen's speech to Parliament

** Kepler Cheuvreux cuts Stada to 'reduce', citing the risk involved in the offer from Bain/Cinven; behaviour of private investors is hard to predict and index funds can only tender after the deal is secure

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Essity: Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) starts with 'hold', expecting the company to focus on improving its organic top-line growth, as strong growth in personal care should be partly offset by slower growth in tissue

** Ontex Group (Dusseldorf: 24678765.DU - news) : Deutsche Bank starts with 'buy', feeling current valuations don't reflect co's transformation from manufacturing-driven to consumer-driven organization

** Innogy: Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) starts with 'buy', citing relatively attractive 'new utility' story attached to the company, based on renewables, grids and customer services

** HSBC reinitiates Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) coverage with 'buy' as Q1 results showed strong progress and capital increase completion allows the company to concentrate on restructuring efforts

(*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)