The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, April 26, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Phil Hardie has reaffirmed his "sector outperform" recommendation for Intact Financial. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Hardie boosted his share target by $5 to $261. Analysts on average target the shares at $236.19. The Scotiabank stockpicker says in a note: "A 'Go-To' defensive quality name that we believe is attractive for large-cap investors looking for a high-quality name to reduce portfolio beta and trades at a reasonable valuation. Intact is Canada's largest P&C insurer, with a successful long-term track record of exceeding industry ROE by 500 basis points. It is also a resilient, defensive-oriented leading financial services company with a strong management team and appealing mid- to long-term growth prospects. The pillars of its strategic road map for growth include expanding leadership in Canada, building a specialty solutions leader, and strengthening leading positions in the United Kingdom and Ireland. We remain constructive on Intact in the current market environment, given its defensive characteristics, solid growth outlook, and sustainable mid-teens ROE supported by the favourable pricing environment."