Admiral shares spark as Citi upgrades to 'buy', opens 'positive catalyst watch'

(Sharecast News) - Citi upgraded Admiral on Tuesday to 'buy' from 'neutral', hiked the price target to 4,243p from 3,277p and opened a 'positive catalyst watch' on the shares. "Admiral's co-founder Henry Engelhardt famously commented that the 2006 UK motor insurance market was like a frog boiling slowly - nothing overly dramatic but results were getting steadily worse (no frogs were harmed at the time)," Citi said.

"We see something similar now and expect real rate to compound from 2H with Admiral leading the way."

Citi noted that Admiral has drip-fed small real rate increases in early 2026 that if sustained make consensus estimates look far too cautious.

The bank said its earnings per share estimates are now 15-17% ahead of consensus in 2027/28.

At 1226 BST, Admiral shares were up 4.3% at 3,744p.