BUZZ-Top of the Street: TDC, Total, BP, Recordati, BNP Paribas

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

** Star-ranked brokers Citi and JP Morgan downgrade Danish telecom operator TDC (LSE: 0MOP.L - news) to "neutral" as they do not expect rival bids or increased offer

** Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) ups Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) to "overweight" as it looks to be the fastest growing oil major over the next few years (production growing 5% to 2022), with flat capex

** MS also moves BP down to "equal-weight" as it will not keep up with Total and, ultimately, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) on dividend growth

** Macquarie cuts Hargreaves Lansdown (Frankfurt: DMB.F - news) to "neutral" as it sees less than 10% upside potential for stock despite the increase in growth factors and estimates

** Following stock's recent underperformance Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) raises Recordati (LSE: 0KBS.L - news) to "neutral" seeing only 2.7% upside potential for stock in 2018 and expecting H1 2018 to be challenging for co

** Natixis (LSE: 0IHK.L - news) raises BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) to "buy", following Q4 17 earnings release and its meeting with BNPP management

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) starts coverage of Smiths Group (Frankfurt: QS2A.F - news) with "overweight" citing operational change under new management seen through improved cash dynamics and greater focus on organic growth

(*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.)