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

** Barclays upgrades Italian postal provider Poste Italiane PST.MI to "overweight" from "equal weight", stating the proposed Telecom Italia deal could drive double-digit EPS accretion and support its push to build “Italy’s everything platform”

** Kepler Cheuvreux downgrades Italy's Telecom Italia TLIT.MI to "hold" from "buy", stating the stock has closed its valuation gap with peers and that it sees limited upside in using Telecom Italia shares to benefit from the Poste Italiane deal

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** Berenberg initiates coverage of UK banks NatWest NWG.L and Barclays BARC.L with "buy" ratings, citing low valuations and scope for further earnings growth as structural hedges support near-term earnings

** The brokerage also starts coverage of British financial institution Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L with a "hold" rating, noting that while it offers an attractive domestic franchise there is "little room for a material positive surprise" at current valuations

(*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.)