PepsiCo (PEP) (PM) (NYB) (NCR) (HGSI) (IR) Price Targets Changed

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Philip Morris (NYSE: PM), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR), Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) and Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) price targets adjusted by analysts.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) lowered its price target on PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) to $75.00. They have an “Overweight” rating on the company.

Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target on Philip Morris (PM) from $74.00 to $78.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

FBR Capital cut its price target on New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYB) $19.00 to $17.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) raised its price target on NCR Corp. (NCR) to $25.00. They have a “Buy” rating on the company.

RBC Capital lowered its price target on Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) from $38.00 to $32.00. They have an “Outperform” rating on the company.

UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) slashed its price target on Ingersoll-Rand (IR) from $50.00 to $45.00. They have a “Neutral” rating on the company.

C.R. Bard (BCR) (NYB) (SFN) (STM) (HBAN) Downgraded

C.R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE: BCR), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: NYB), SFN Group Inc (NYSE: SFN), STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) and Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) downgraded by analysts.

BMO Capital Markets downgraded New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYB) from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating.

FBR Capital downgraded Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN) was from an “Outperform” rating to a “Market Perform” rating. They have a price target of $7.00 on the company, down from $8.00.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) downgraded C.R. Bard, Inc. (BCR) to a “neutral” rating. They have a price target of $115.00 on the company.

Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) downgraded SFN Group Inc (SFN) from a “Buy” rating to a “Hold” rating.

BNP Paribas downgraded STMicroelectronics (STM) from an “Outperform” rating to a “Neutral” rating.

New York Community Bancorp (NYB), People's United Financial (PBCT)Bancshares (HBAN), Comerica (CMA) Among Large Banks Hammered

On a wretched for bank stocks amid torrents of unrest in the Middle East and rising oil prices, the biggest loser among the largest U.S banks was Regions Financial, with shares dropping over 5% to close at $7.38

On a day that saw the banking industry do even worse than the broad indexes, the KBW Bank Index (BKX.X) was down over 3.5%, to close at 53.28.

All 24 components of the index were down, and in addition to Regions, the index components seeing the largest declines were Huntington Bancshares (HBAN), down 5% to close at $6.86, Comerica (CMA), also down 5% to close at 37.80 and Citigroup (C), down 4.5% to close at 4.69.

The large banks suffering the least on Tuesday included New York Community Bancorp (NYB), which closed at $18.61 and People's United Financial (PBCT), which closed at $13.24. Both were down 1%.

New York Community Bancorp has the distinction of the highest dividend yield among components of the KBW Bank Index, with a 25-cent quarterly payout, for a yield of 5.37%.



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New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYB) Will Continue to Outperform

Citing healthy quality of credit, solid profitability, growing net interest income and an attractive dividend, FBR says they see New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYB) continuing to outperform.

FBR says, "In 4Q10, investors continued to wait for loan growth, although profitability remains strong. Runoff of covered loans more than offset a $103 million increase (+40 bps) in loans held for investment, but management emphasized improving growth prospects. Substantially more of its $1.1 billion loans held for investment pipeline is new business, rather than refinance transactions. A whopping 25 bps increase in net interest margin drove stronger-than-expected net interest income, which largely offset a drop in mortgage banking income. We view this trade-off favorably, as we consider net interest income a higher quality source of earnings than mortgage banking. There was some doubt from investors about whether the wider NIM is sustainable; we believe it is. We reiterate our 2011 and 2012 operating EPS estimates of $1.40 and $1.60. NYB's strong credit quality, growing net interest income, strong profitability, and attractive dividend support our rating."

FBR Capital reiterates an "Outperform" rating on New York Community Bancorp (NYB), which closed Thursday at $18.51, up $0.36, or 1.98 percent. FBR has a price target of $20 on NYB.