Up/Downgrades (ARB, BCS, BLK, SAM, NSC, PSUN, SAP, AZN, ED, CEG, EXC, GOOG, NOK, RAI, SNY, UPS, YHOO)

Published on Thursday, 05 January 2012 09:20 Written by Danny Miller

New York, January 5^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Following are some of the top upgrades and downgrades before the market open.

Upgrades

Arbitron (NYSE:ARB) was downgraded to a Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), the provider of diversified investment management services to institutional clients and to retail investors, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Boston Beer Company (NYSE:SAM), the maker of Samuel Adams beer, was downgraded to a Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC), the railroad operating primarily in the Southeast, East, and Midwest of the United States, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ:PSUN), the specialty retailer rooted in the California lifestyle catering to teenagers and young adults, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Janney Capital Markets. The firm set its target price at $4.

SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), the provider of business management software, was upgraded to a Neutral at Exane BNP Paribas.

Downgrades

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan. 

Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED), the New York based electricity provider, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Constellation Energy (NYSE:CEG) was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Exelon (NYSE:EXC), the utility that distributes electricity to customers in Illinois and Pennsylvania, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the owner of the largest Internet Search Engine, was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at The Benchmark Company. The firm set its target price at $700.

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) was upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI), the Winston-Salem, NC based tobacco company, was downgraded to a Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY), the Paris, France based global pharmaceutical company, was downgraded to a Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.

UPS (NYSE:UPS), the package delivery and Logistics Company, was downgraded to a Neutral from Overweight at HSBC Securities. The firm lowered its target price to $75 from $80.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), the Internet media company that owns the second largest search engine, was downgraded to a Hold from Buy at Jefferies.