MIPS (MIPS) (EFC) (NCR) (NYX) (ENS) (ACN) Ratings, Price Targets

MIPS Technologies (NASDAQ: MIPS), Ellington Financial (NYSE: EFC), NCR (NYSE: NCR), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX), EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) and Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN) ratings and price targets.

Ellington Financial (EFC) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating.

MIPS Technologies (MIPS) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating.

NCR (NCR) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to a “buy” rating.

NYSE Euronext (NYX) was downgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating.

EnerSys (ENS) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating.

Accenture Plc (ACN) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating.

PulteGroup (PHM) (MIPS) (BA) (BBT) (COCO) Upgraded

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM), MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), BB&T (NYSE: BBT) and Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) upgraded by analysts.

PulteGroup, Inc. (PHM) was upgraded by Ticonderoga Securities from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $6.50 on the company. They cited valuation as the catalyst behind the call.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MIPS) was upgraded by Capstone from a “Hold” rating to a “Buy” rating.

The Boeing Company (BA) was upgraded by Nomura from a “Reduce” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

BB&T (BBT) was upgraded by Macquarie from an “Underperform” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (COCO) was upgraded by Gabelli to a “Buy” rating.

Goodrich (GDP) (OHI) (HRC) (MTD) (HTWR) (MIPS) Upgraded

Goodrich Petroleum Co. (NYSE: GDP), Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE: OHI), Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HRC), Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE: MTD), HeartWare (NASDAQ: HTWR) and MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS) upgraded by analysts.

Goodrich Petroleum Co. (GDP) was upgraded by Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) from a “Market Perform” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) was upgraded by Hilliard Lyons from a “Long” rating to a “Term Buy” rating.

Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (HRC) was upgraded by Hilliard Lyons from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating. They have a price target of $40.00 on the company.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (MTD) was upgraded by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) from a “Neutral” rating to a “Buy” rating.

HeartWare (HTWR) was upgraded by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) from a “Neutral” rating to an “Outperform” rating.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MIPS) was upgraded by Capstone from a “Sell” rating to a “Hold” rating.

MIPS (MIPS) (CECO) (DF) (ECHO) (FLR) (MDR) Price Targets Changed

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO), Dean Foods Co (NYSE: DF), Echo Global Logistics Inc (NASDAQ: ECHO), Fluor Co. (NYSE: FLR) and McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) price targets adjusted by analysts.

Career Education Corp. (CECO) had its price target lowered by Citigroup (NYSE:C) to $21.00. They have a “Hold” rating on the company.

Dean Foods Co. (DF) had its price target lowered by UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) from $13.00 to $10.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

Echo Global Logistics Inc. (ECHO) had its price target raised by Barrington Research from $18.00 to $22.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Fluor Co. (FLR) had its price target lowered by UBS AG from $84.00 to $77.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

McDermott International (MDR) had its price target lowered by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) to $26.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MIPS) had its price target lowered by The Benchmark Company from $11.00 to $8.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

MIPS Technologies (MIPS) Pressured on "Deceptive" Article

Benchmark analyst Gary Mobley is maintaining a "Buy" rating on shares of MIPS Technologies (NASDAQ:MIPS), as he commented on an article written in Bloomberg Businessweek, which he asserted is deceptively written and suggests trouble for MIPS that might not actually be the reality.

The writers said that executives at various companies working on Android-based products have asserted that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is attacking “willy nilly” development in the sector, with the goal of stemming fragmentation of the operating system.

Mobley’s issue with it is that it makes it sound like Android will become standardized around ARM’s chip reference architecture and that as a consequence, “MIPS, MIPS’ licensees and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) will be precluded from the Android-based application processor market. The implications, if the details of the article were true, could be a negative for MIPS.”

He concludes that “Based on conversations with our contacts, MIPS has welcomed a defragmentation effort by Google’s Android.”

“If application development and hardware development for Android became more standardized by Google, the time it takes MIPS to port the newest version of Android could shorten.”

MIPS closed Friday at $10.47, falling $0.02, or 0.19 percent.

Volterra (Nasdaq:VLTR), Standard Micro (Nasdaq:SMSC), Atmel (Nasdaq:ATML), Cypress (NYSE:CY), Skyworks (Nasdaq:SWKS), MIPS (Nasdaq:MIPS) Getting Coverage from ThinkEquity

The semiconductor sector has been drawing a lot of analyst interest lately, and that's the case with ThinkEquity, which initiated coverage on a plethora of companies, including Volterra (Nasdaq:VLTR), Standard Micro (Nasdaq:SMSC), Atmel (Nasdaq:ATML), Cypress Semi (NYSE:CY), Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq:SWKS), MIPS Technologies (Nasdaq:MIPS), LSI Corp. (NYSE:LSI) and Silicon Labs (Nasdaq:SLAB).

Started off with a "Buy" rating were Volterra, Standard Micro, Atmel, Cypress Semi, Skyworks Solutions and MIPS Technologies. LSI Corp. and Silicon Labs were started off with "Hold" ratings on them.

Volterra closed Friday at $24.20, up $0.43, or 1.81 percent, with a price target of $28 placed on them. Standard Micro closed at $28.31, down $0.12, or 0.42 percent, with a price target of $35. Atmel closed at $12.30, up $0.02, or 0.16 percent, with a price target of $15. Cypress cosed at $17.93, up $0.24, or 1.36 percent, with a price target of $20. Skyworks Solutions closed at $28.44, up $0.63, or 2.27 percent, with a price target on them of $32. MIPS closed at $14.16, up $0.21, or 1.51 percent, with a price target on them of $18. LSI closed at $6.00, up $0.01, or 0.17 percent. Silicon Labs closed at $45.61, down $0.31, or 0.68 percent, with a price target of $48.00 on them.