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

** Jefferies cuts Symrise SY1G.DE and Brenntag BNRGn.DE to "underperform" from "hold" on ongoing volume and margin overhang for the former and a risk of weaker topline growth for the latter

** It upgrades Umicore UMI.BR to "buy" from "hold", saying that it prefers businesses with relative pricing power in the current deflationary/weak demand environment

** Barclays cuts Aviva AV.L to "equal weight" from "overweight", saying it is positive on its pending acquisition of Direct Line, but believes that potential is reflected in the share price

** UBS cuts ISS ISS.CO to "neutral" from "buy", saying risk/reward now looks more balance after significant re-rating YTD

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Stifel initiates Experian EXPN.L with "buy" as it sees upside from further compound growth and management's strong track record providing confidence in ongoing value creation

(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. The scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being the best. Analysts are ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)

(Reporting by Jagoda Darlak and Amir Orusov in Gdansk)

((jagoda.darlak@tr.com, amir.orusov@tr.com))