UPDATE: Brean Murray Carret & Co. Downgrades Alpha Natural Resources; Removes PT

According to a research report published this morning, Brean Murray Carret & Co. has downgraded Alpha Natural Resources

from Buy to Hold, and removed its $25 PT. In the report, Brean Murray Carret & Co. mentioned, "Despite met coal markets recently showing signs of improvement, we decided that the company's earnings profile on our current met coal price deck of $225/MT in 2H12 and 2013 for benchmark quality coal does not provide enough upside to justify a Buy rating at this point in time. We are now estimating EBITDA of roughly $860 million in both 2012 and 2013, which on a 7.0x EV/EBITDA multiple provides a fair value estimate of roughly $16 per share, an upside below our threshold for Buy rated stocks." Alpha Natural Resources closed yesterday at $14.85.