Would the Last Analyst to Downgrade Ascena Please Leave the Room

September 20, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

It is not uncommon for analysts and investors to throw in the towel when an upside story in equities blows up. 24/7 Wall St. has already covered the blow-up of Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA) and the reason for the blow-up over earnings and guidance.

On last look, Ascena shares were down a sharp 27.5% at $5.89. The trading volume even before noon Eastern Time on Tuesday was 16 million shares. That is almost eight times the normal trading volume for a full day.

24/7 Wall St. has tracked numerous analyst calls on Ascena on Tuesday. While some analysts have maintained their ratings, the reality is that some appear to have only just trimmed their targets prices.

If you think you haven’t heard of Ascena before, you have certainly heard of its brand name stores: Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant, maurices, dressbarn and Catherines, and for tween girls under the Justice brand.

Here are some of those analyst calls seen on Tuesday, September 20, 2016:

  • Citigroup has a Neutral rating, but it lowered its price target to $7 from $8.
  • Cowen has a Market Perform rating but cut the target to $7 from $8.
  • FBR Capital Markets cut its rating to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $7 from $15.
  • Keybanc Capital Markets kept its Overweight rating but lowered its target price to $13 from $14.
  • Oppenheimer downgraded it to Perform from Outperform, losing its old price target of $12 last seen in June.
  • RBC Capital Markets downgraded it to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $7 from $12.
  • SunTrust Robinson Humphrey maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target to $8 from $10.
  • Telsey Advisory Group had a Market Perform rating, but it cut the target price to $7 from $9.

Ascena Retail shares were last seen down 28.3% at $5.81 as of 12:25 p.m. Eastern time. Its trading volume was then listed as 17.6 million shares.

Tuesday’s serious bash took shares to a 52-week low as well, with the new 52-week trading range being $5.80 to $14.76.

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