Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AGU, AMZN, BJ, COMV, ETFC, GRNB, MPEL, MCP, NGG, NFLX, STX, TSO, TXT)

Administrator — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:05:07 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) Raised to Buy at Janney.
Comverge, Inc. (NASDAQ: COMV) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) Reiterated as Outperform at FBR.
Green Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRNB) Cut to Underperform at KBW; Cut to Sell at Wunderlich.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) Started as Buy at Gabelli (late Wednesday call).
National Grid plc (NYSE: NGG) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Janney; Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AGU, AMZN, BJ, COMV, ETFC, GRNB, MCP, MPEL, NFLX, NGG, STX, TSO, TXT

Regional Banks Already Registering TARP Shares & Warrants (HMNF, MFSF, STL, CJBK, GRNB, PVSA, FISI, TSBK, IBOC)

247wallst — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:26:28 +0000

We have perused many SEC filings over the years, but it seems that the flood gates are starting to open where regional banks and smaller banks are filing with the SEC to raise capital. Each one of these look like the securities being registered are cumulative preferred shares and warrants to buy stock under the Fed’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. But seeing the magnitude of filers and the nominal amounts mentioned is starting to show just how widespread this need for capital is. Below is a list of the filings we saw from today alone:

HMN Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: HMNF) filed to sell nearly $30 million worth of securities for the Feds.
MutualFirst Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: MFSF) filed to sell up to 625,135 shares of common stock and warrants for TARP funds.
Sterling Bancorp (NYSE: STL) filed to sell up to $48.3 million atcurrent prices under the cumulative preferred funds for the Feds.
Central Jersey Bancorp (NASDAQ: CJBK) filed to sell almost $1.7 million at current prices as part of the plan for the Feds.
Green Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRNB) filed to sell roughly $83 million under the plan in cumulative preferred and warrants.
Parkvale Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: PVSA) filed to sell roughly$4.76 million worth of securities under the plan via warrants andcommon stock.
Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISI) filed to sell roughly $43 million worth of securities under the plan.
Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSBK) filed to sell almost $2.7 million under the plan.
International Bancshares Corporation (NASDAQ: IBOC) filed to sellalmost $250 million in securities, also under the federal TARP plan.

Get used to filings of this sort. There are hundreds of institutionsin the TARP and in the rescue plan. Eventually, they will all have toregister these shares. The good news is that Uncle Sam might not bethe most opportune securities sellers.

Jon C. Ogg
January 22, 2009

Posted in Banking, Secondary Offering Tagged: CJBK, FISI, GRNB, HMNF, IBOC, MFSF, PVSA, STL, TSBK

24/7 Wall St. » GRNB

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AGU, AMZN, BJ, COMV, ETFC, GRNB, MPEL, MCP, NGG, NFLX, STX, TSO, TXT)

Regional Banks Already Registering TARP Shares & Warrants (HMNF, MFSF, STL, CJBK, GRNB, PVSA, FISI, TSBK, IBOC)