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Jefferies LLC analyst Casey Haire upgraded Green Bay, Wis.-based Associated Banc-Corp's stock rating to "buy" from "hold," with a price target of $23.
Haire wrote that in the near-term, loan growth constraints will remain. The analyst is in favor of the company's capital allocation strategy as repurchases have been strong, whole-bank deals digestible, and bolt-on insurance deals appear stable.
Execution of acquisition synergies, credit deterioration, and low loan and fee growth are downside risks to Haire's upgrade of the company.
Downgrades
Haire downgraded
The analyst wrote that the company is vulnerable to credit quality hiccups near-term, considering the recent buildup of nonperforming assets. The analyst also believes that in the current environment Texas Capital will find it difficult to get rid of "problem credits."
The upside risks to the analyst's downgrade are better than expected credit performance, improvement in mortgage warehouse pricing and capital return, among other things.
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FIG Partners LLC analyst John Rodis downgraded Louisville, Ky.-based Stock Yards Bancorp Inc.'s stock rating to "market perform" from "outperform," with a price target of $36.
The analyst wrote that the stock rating was lowered as the company's shares were relatively strong in December 2018.
Rodis' EPS estimates for the company remain $2.39 for 2018, $2.47 for 2019 and $2.58 for 2020.
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Ken Usdin of Jefferies LLC downgraded Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc.'s stock rating to "hold" from "buy," with a price target of $57.
Usdin wrote that the company has a higher-than-average combined contribution from brokerage, investment banking, trust, trading and mortgage banking production areas. He also wrote that all of these contributors face a tough growth trajectory.
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Usdin downgraded Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp's stock rating to "hold" from "buy," with a price target of $51.
He wrote that the company got its premium valuation back after consent order effects began to subside and the company's efficiency improved, among other things. Higher-than-expected operating leverage and better-than-forecast fee growth are upside risks to the analyst's downgraded rating for the company.
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The Jefferies LLC analyst downgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s stock rating to "hold" from "buy," with a price target of $110.
Usdin expects the company's revenues to fall short of the consensus expectations for net interest income and fees.
The upside risks to the analyst's downgrade can possibly be the strength in loan growth offsetting net interest margin pressure and the growth in non-markets fee areas offsetting markets-related weakness.