STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Allianz dips as asset management drags

Shares in Europe's largest insurer Allianz dip 2.4 percent after the company predicts group operating profit in 2014 may remain flat compared to 2013 due to turmoil in its asset management division.

Investors ignore a dividend increase and focus instead on the new target for operating earnings this year of 10.0 billion euros ($13.67 billion), give or take 500 million euros, compared to 10.1 billion euros earned in 2013.

Allianz expects a weaker performance in asset management, which saw a management reshuffle this year after Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of bond fund manager PIMCO, stunned the investment community by announcing he would leave the firm.

"The reported Q4 result and the dividend increase broadly meet expectations. The one negative item is the high net outflow in asset management," write analysts at DZ Bank in a note to clients.

The shares have risen around 24 percent in the past 12 months compared to 33 percent for the STOXX Europe 600 insurance index.

($1 = 0.7317 euros)

Reuters messaging rm://thomas.atkins.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net