Analyst Downgrades: Achillion, Yahoo!, and Etsy

Analysts are weighing in on drugmaker Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN), Internet issue Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), and e-commerce issue Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on ACHN, YHOO, and ETSY.

• ACHN is down 12.9% out of the gate to trade at $9.30, after yesterday's news of a partnership with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was met with a round of bearish brokerage attention. UBS, for example, lowered its rating to "market perform" from "market outperform," while UBS cut its outlook to "neutral" from "buy." Cowen and Company also chimed in, saying the deal "clearly removes" expectations of a possible takeover, and has little value to shareholders. Today's price move is just more of the same for a stock that's shed 44% since hitting its year-to-date high of $16.54 in late January. Plus, ACHN's most recent rally was quickly rejected by its descending 80-day moving average. Option traders have been growing increasingly skeptical in recent sessions, with Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 0.49 docked in the 85th annual percentile.

• YHOO took a 7.6% dive yesterday -- and closed south of its 320-day moving average for the first time since early September 2012 -- on concern proposed changes in the U.S. tax code could affect the firm's spin-off of its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) stake. Meanwhile, despite YHOO's insistence it is going forward with its plan, a number of brokerage firms were quick to weigh in on the stock. Specifically, the equity received price-target cuts from BofA-Merrill Lynch (to $56), Nomura (to $52), and Raymond James (to $51) -- although, each price target represents significant upside to last night's close at $40.98, and the former of the three sits in territory YHOO has not charted since September 2000. In the options pits, speculators have been initiating long puts over calls at an annual-high clip, per YHOO's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.96, which rests higher than all comparable readings from the past year. Yahoo! Inc. is up 4% at the open to linger near $42.64.

• Wedbush once again took a glass-half-empty approach to ETSY, this time, following the company's dismal turn in the earnings confessional -- its first appearance since going public in mid-April. The brokerage firm slashed its price target to $13 -- a 38% discount to Tuesday's close at $21. Against this backdrop, Etsy Inc shares have dropped 24.3% to $15.90, a new record low. Meanwhile, option traders have been loading up on long calls in the weeks leading up to last night's scheduled event. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, speculators have bought to open 1.46 calls for each put over the past 10 sessions.