Information Provided By:
Fly News Breaks for December 12, 2018
LNC, ATH
Dec 12, 2018 | 07:56 EDT
BMO Capital analyst James Fotheringham raised his price target on Athene Holding (ATH) to $69 and also raised his FY18 EPS view by 11c to $6.05 and FY19 view by 63c to $7.82. The analyst cites the company completing its $7.7B block reinsurance transaction with Lincoln Financial Group (LNC) - its second meaningful deal in two weeks - which he sees generating returns "near the low end" of the company's mid- to high-teens target return on deployed capital. Fotheringham also points to Athene Holdings' $250M buyback authorization, anticipating it to be 2%-3% accretive. The analyst maintains his Market Perform view on the shares, stating that while he is optimistic about its potential growth, he sees even better opportunities elsewhere in his coverage universe of large-cap banks, specialty lenders, and financial technology stocks.