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Analyst Downgrades: Alcoa, Bank of America, JPMorgan

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings on Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)

Jun 29, 2015 at 9:39 AM
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Analysts are weighing in today on aluminum giant Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), as well as financial firms Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AA, BAC, and JPM.

  • AA received a pair of bearish brokerage notes, with Morgan Stanley and Stifel cutting their respective price targets to $16 and $18. As such, the stock is down 2.1% at $11.44 -- after touching an annual low $11.37 -- meaning it's lost almost 20% since hitting its most recent high of $14.28 in early May. However, traders at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have been buying to open Alcoa Inc calls over puts at a rapid-fire rate of late. Specifically, the equity's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 12.13 ranks in the 98th percentile of its annual range.

  • The Greek debt crisis is hitting a number of financial stocks, including BAC. Also weighing on the shares -- down 1.4% at $17.17 -- is a $1 price-target cut to $20 at Oppenheimer. Bank of America Corp is now on track to close below its supportive 20-day moving average for the first time in a month. Meanwhile, at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, traders have been scooping up long puts over calls at an accelerated clip, per the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.26 -- higher than 82% of comparable readings from the past year. Echoing this is BAC's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR), which sits at an annual high of 0.89.

  • JPM also got slapped by Oppenheimer, which downgraded the equity to "perform" from "outperform." The bearish note is leading the shares lower this morning, off 1,4% at $67.97 at last check. Taking a step back, JPMorgan Chase & Co. hit a record high of $69.82 last week, and is still up a market-beating 8.6% year-to-date. Not surprisingly, brokerage firms remain overwhelmingly optimistic toward the security, with 14 maintaining "buy" or better assessments, compared to five "holds" and not a single "sell" recommendation.

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