Berenberg Ups Aviva Price Target After 'Strong' H1 Results; Buy Reiterated

05:59 AM EDT, 08/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Berenberg raised Aviva's (AV.L) price target after the British insurance company delivered "strong" first-half performance. "Operating EPS came in at GBp31.8, a 5.3% consensus beat, which was predominantly driven by a higher-than-expected general insurance result in the UK, while the GBp14 interim [dividend per share] was in line with consensus," the research firm said Monday. "We continue to see Aviva's scale, diversified platform, and exposure to structurally growing end-markets as highly attractive and think that the strong result is testament to the company's qualities. Following the H126 results, we reiterate our Buy rating and raise our price target to GBp820 [from GBp800]." For the six months ended June 30, Aviva reported a 24% year-over-year increase in operating profit to 1.33 billion pounds sterling, while its insurance revenue rose to 13.48 billion pounds from 10.99 billion pounds. Alongside the results, management affirmed that it "remains well on track" to meet its 280 million-pound operating profit target for its wealth business by 2027, which analysts believe the company is "comfortably on track" to achieve. On the earnings side, Berenberg raised its adjusted operating EPS forecast for full-year 2026 to 2028 by 0.9%, 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Similarly, the research firm boosted its 2027 and 2028 net income projections, while cutting its 2026 net income estimate by 14.5%.