UPDATE: Miller Tabak Downgrades Viacom to Neutral

Miller Tabak lowers its rating on Viacom

to Neutral from Buy and reduces its near-term price target from $60/$56 to $55/$51 to reflect rating issuers' effect on ad revenue. Miller Tabak notes that it updated its recommendation on the company "due to near-term ratings and ad revenue weakness that may make this the mostat-risk programmer for the upcoming earnings season. While the CEO mentioned in the early February earnings call that a return of advertisers could mean ad growth in this F2Q12, that was only after one month of ratings data; there continued to be slippage at MTV and Nickelodeon." VIAB closed at $46.40 on Wednesday.