Hershey (HSY) (GLW) (HTLD) (IPHI) (JBLU) (GD) (LM) Ratings Reiterated

Hershey (NYSE: HSY), Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLD), Inphi (NASDAQ: IPHI), Jetblue Airways Corp (NASDAQ: JBLU), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) had ratings on them reiterated by analysts.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) reiterated its "Overweight" rating on Hershey (HSY).

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reiterated its "Equal Weight" rating on Corning Inc. (GLW).

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated its "Neutral" rating on Heartland Express, Inc. (HTLD).

Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) reiterated its "Overweight" rating on Inphi (IPHI). They have a price target of $13.00 on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) reiterated its "Buy" rating on Jetblue Airways Corp. (JBLU).

Deutsche Bank reiterated its "Buy" rating on General Dynamics (GD).

Citigroup (NYSE:C) reiterated its "Buy" rating on Legg Mason, Inc. (LM). They have a price target of $34.00 on the company.

Ratings On (LM) (MD) (MEE) (MYL) Downgraded by Analysts

Analysts downgraded Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM), Mednax Services Inc (NYSE: MD), Massey Energy (NYSE: MEE) and Mylan Inc. (NYSE: MYL) today.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc downgraded Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating.

Feltl & Co. downgraded Mednax Services Inc (MD) from a “strong buy” rating to a “buy” rating. They have a price target of $81.00 on the company, up from $76.00.

Dahlman Rose downgraded Massey Energy (MEE) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) downgraded Mylan Inc. (MYL) from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating. They have a price target of $25.00 on the company. Pressures on prices from overseas competitors was cited as the catalyst.

Ratings On (FSLR) (GNRC) (KAR) (LM) (LTTOY) Downgraded by Analysts

Analysts downgraded First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Generac Holdings (NASDAQ: GNRC), KAR Auction Services Inc (NYSE: KAR), Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE: LM) and Lottomatica Group (NASDAQ: LTTOY) today.

Collins Stewart downgraded First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) downgraded Generac Holdlings (GNRC) from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating.

Robert W. Baird downgraded KAR Auction Services Inc (KAR) from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating. They have a price target of $21.00 on the company, up from $18.00.

KBW downgraded Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) to a “market perform” rating. They have a price target of $39.00 on the company. They cited higher compensation costs as the catalyst.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) downgraded Lottomatica Group (LTTOY) from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.

Dividend Yields for (MS) (LUK) (LM) (COF) (BAC)

Indicated dividend yields for Standard & Poor's 500 Index companies Morgan Stanley (MS), Leucadia National Corp (LUK), Legg Mason Inc (LM), Capital One Financial Corp (COF) and Bank of America Corp (BAC).

These dividend data indicate dividend yields of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as of Saturday, April 30. The yield is determined by taking the latest declared dividend, annualized and divided by the price of the stock. Payout ratios are calculated based on latest quarterly dividend paid divided by earnings.

Morgan Stanley (MS) has a dividend yield of 0.76 percent on a declared dividend of $0.06. The payout ratio is 9.9 percent.

Leucadia National Corp (LUK) has a dividend yield of 0.65 percent on a declared dividend of $0.25. The payout ratio is na.

Legg Mason Inc (LM) has a dividend yield of 0.65 percent on a declared dividend of $0.06. The payout ratio is 14.9 percent.

Capital One Financial Corp (COF) has a dividend yield of 0.37 percent on a declared dividend of $0.05. The payout ratio is 2.2 percent.

Bank of America Corp (BAC) has a dividend yield of 0.33 percent on a declared dividend of $0.01. The payout ratio is 5.8 percent.

Legg Mason's (LM) Cliants Withdraw $3 Billion

Two major clients of Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) withdrew $3 billion in assets from the company in February, according to Chief Financial Officer Peter Nachtwey.

At a financial conference sponsored by Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Nachtwey said the outflows will be largely offset by market appreciation during the period.

Legg Mason said the two clients were low fee paying customers, and entailed a unnamed performance-only fee client withdrew $2 billion and a sovereign wealth fund that took out $1 billion.

Also noted was a small asset-management firm in Singapore ended its affiliation with them, and an additional $2 billion in assets left the company as a result.

On March 10 Legg Mason will release its assets under management for February.

Legg Mason was trading at $34.88, down $0.62, or 1.75 percent, as of 2:23 PM EST.

Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) Remains Weak Against Peers Says FBR

Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) continues to receive a negative outlook from FBR, citing their underperformance against their peers.

FBR says, "We continue to have a negative outlook on LM shares, as we believe the company is in a relatively weaker position than peers, given its persistent net outflows, weaker equity product offerings, and inconsistent performance. In the current environment in which macro improvement and equity market appreciation continue at a steady pace, we expect an overall slowdown in flows into bond funds industrywide as clients re-risk their portfolios. Furthermore, considering that only 27% of LM's assets are invested in equity products, and given the company's revenue-sharing agreements with affiliates, we expect LM investors would not fully participate in a complete market recovery. Although we expect further cost cutting and market appreciation to overcome further outflows and drive higher overall operating margins, we believe the market is mostly pricing in such an improvement, leaving limited upside potential from current levels."

FBR Capital maintains an "Underperform" rating on Legg Mason (LM), which closed Thursay at $34.01, up $0.26, or 0.77 percent. FBR also lowered their price target on Legg Mason from $35 to $34.

Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) Very Vulnerable to Market Turn Says Ticonderoga

With outflows soaring at Legg Mason (NYSE:LM), Ticonderoga sees Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) as being extremely vulnerable to a turn in the market.

Ticonderoga says, "LM reported net long-term outflow of $16.2 billion or decay of 12%, the highest in a year. Fixed income had outflow of $13 billion, the worst in a year while equity had outflow of $3.3 billion...Flows are getting worse. If the markets were not up as much as they were, this Company would be struggling a lot more. Relative to other managers, LM is very vulnerable to a turn in the market."

Ticonderoga reiterates a "Sell" rating on Legg Mason (LM), which closed Wednesday at $33.75, losing $1.86, or 5.22 percent. Ticonderoga has a price target of $28 on Legg Mason.

Legg Mason (NYSE:LM), Artio (NYSE:ART), Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Get Look from Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga Securities has given their take on the outlook for Legg Mason (NYSE:LM), Artio Global Investors (NYSE:ART) and Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) today.

Ticonderoga says, "Lowering Legg Mason (LM) on Higher Transaction Charge, Raising Outlook Modestly; Reiterate Sell. We are lowering our FQ3'11 GAAP EPS estimate to $0.33 from $0.40. The revision is reflective of higher transition-related expenses than previously modeled. Note the driver of the increase stems from severance payments to David Odenath, former head of Americas, who has since left the company. Reflective of better equity markets, we are raising our EPS estimates adjusted for restructuring. FQ3'11 is now $0.43 without restructuring, while FQ4'11 is now $0.48. Our calendar 2011 EPS estimate is now $1.73 without restructuring compared with $1.69 previously. We are modeling long-term outflows of $10 billion compared with $12.4 billion last quarter. We are also raising our price target to $28, or 14x our annualized March 2012 estimate."

"Raising Artio Global Investors (ART) Estimates on Market, But Relative Performance Continues to Pose Biggest Risk; Reiterate Sell. We are raising our Q4’10 and 2011 EPS estimates slightly to $0.42 and $1.68, respectively, from $0.41 and $1.61 previously. We are initiating a 2012 EPS estimate of $1.73. The increase for Q4’10 is largely driven by a higher than expected average AUM for the period. For Q4’10, we expect net outflows of roughly $3bn; this will likely be the worst quarter for flow since ART has been public. We believe that real risks are emerging for institutional flows. Three-year metrics are usually the barometer for institutions. According to Morningstar, ART’s two key international AUM strategies are in the bottom 13% and 36%, respectively. Any near-term turn in the equity markets and this stock is very vulnerable, in our opinion"

Franklin Resources (BEN) Remains Top Long; Reiterate Buy. Following BEN’s AUM release on January 10, we raised our calendar 2011 EPS estimate to $8.30 from $8.19 reflective of the 2.4% AUM beat vs. our expectations. Our price target is $135, or 16.3x our calendar 2011 EPS estimate; we are looking for $1.92 in FQ1'11.

Legg Mason was trading at $35.57, down $0.53, or 1.47 percent, as of 12:45 PM EST. Artio Global Investors was trading at $15.16, down $0.18, or 1.17 percent. Franklin Resources was at $120.53, losing $0.68, or 0.56 percent.

Legg Mason's (NYSE:LM) Slow Asset Growth Makes Valuation Dubious

The valuation of Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) appears high, says Ticonderoga, citing their slow asset growth in comparison with the rest of the industry.

Ticonderoga said, "Total AUM came in at $671.8 billion, up 0.6% from last month. This was $3 billion better than our estimate. It looks like fixed income AUM came in better by about $2-3 billion. For the quarter, we estimate total net outflows from long-term products of $10 billion compared to $12.4 billion last quarter. Total AUM was down 0.3% from the end of September 2010.

"LM trades at 21x our calendar 2011 estimate, which is adjusted for restructuring charges and cost synergies. This represents a 23% premium to the industry. We continue to struggle with the valuation considering how drastically LM asset growth lags the industry and the continued lack of investment toward growth."

Ticonderoga maintains a "Sell" rating on Legg Mason, which closed Wednesday at $35.68, gaining $0.47, or 1.33 percent. Ticonderoga has a price target of $27 on them.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Need to Rotate to Equities

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) has scored big gains in market share, and if they want to retain the share they need to rotate their assets en masse to equities, says Ticonderoga.

Ticonderoga said, "Fixed Income AUM Likely Outperforming Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) and Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) This Quarter. Through last night, we estimate that BEN's fixed income AUM is up 1.3% for the calendar quarter. We estimate that EV's fixed income AUM is down 4.5% from the beginning of November through yesterday and that LM's fixed income AUM is down 4.7% for the three-month period. Fixed income is a bigger piece of AUM for LM than any other manager (54%), while EV has roughly 30% of AUM in fixed income. BEN is in between at 40%.

"BEN Has Gained Tremendous Market Share, So It Has Better Chance of Retaining Assets If They Rotate en Masse to Equities. BEN's AUM market share among EV, LM, T.Rowe Price (Nasdaq:TROW), and Janus (NYSE:JNS) was 24.5% at 3/09 and 31% at the end of 9/10. Accordingly, BEN is likely in a better position than most to capture internal equity flows via exchanges because it already has the assets.

"BEN Did Quite Well the Last Time Equities “Flowed.” A big misconception, in our view, is that BEN is not levered to equities. At the end of November, 43% of BEN's AUM was in equities. More important, a look back at recent robust periods for equities supports the company's leverage. From 2005 through 2007, industry equity mutual funds totaled $389bn. BEN's equity mutual funds from 12/31/2004 through 12/30/2007 were $63 billion, or an organic growth rate of 31.7%. This compares to TROW's growth of 31.1% and JNS's at negative 24%. We use TROW and JNS because they are generally perceived as the best plays on equities. Note that for TROW, we exclude separate account flows, so it is likely that its total equity growth rate over the period was better than BEN's."

Ticonderoga maintains a "Buy" rating on Franklin Resources, which is trading at $110.92, down $0.98, or 0.88 percent, as of 12:26 PM EST.

Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) Equity Flow to Remain Low

Citing several factors, Ticonderoga Securities said they see no catalyst to suggest Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) will participate in an equity flow recovery.

Ticonderoga said, "This was not a good month for flow. LM has 74% of AUM in fixed income and liquidity, the highest in the industry second to Federated (FII, $25.76, NR). With performance relatively weak in equities and long-term performance concerns at Clearbridge and LM Capital and likely capacity constraints at Royce, we have a hard time playing LM for an equity flow recovery."

Ticonderoga maintains a "Sell" on Legg Mason, which closed Friday at $35.14, down $0.78, or 2.17 percent. They have a price target of $27 on them.