** Rio Tinto RIO.AX falls 0.3% to A$109.9; outperforms mining index .AXMM, which is down 1.5%
** Appointed Simon Trott, who heads co's most profitable iron ore unit, as CEO on Tuesday
** Posts strongest Q2 iron ore output since record 2018 at 83.7 million metric tonnes $(MT)$ from Pilbara operations
** Q2 shipments of 79.9 MT up 13% q/q, but misses Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 81.98 MT
** Citi says lower-grade SP10 iron ore accounts for 29% of Pilbara shipments, highlighting need for new mines
** UBS says Trott taking over in August as "safe pair of hands"
** Stock rated "buy" on avg; median PT is A$118, per data compiled by LSEG
** RIO down 6.4% YTD
(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru)
((Roushni.nair@thomsonreuters.com;))