UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades BPI to Bridgepoint Education to Neutral on Heightened Regulatory Uncertainty

Piper Jaffray lowered its rating on Bridgepoint Education BPI from Overweight to Neutral and reduced its price target from $32 to $18. Piper Jaffray noted, "We are downgrading Bridgepoint Education to Neutral from Overweight based on substantially increased regulatory uncertainty, with the timing and eventual outcome of Ashford's accreditation now unclear. While the current valuation reflects much of this uncertainty, we had previously assumed WASC accreditation could serve as a positive catalyst for the shares in 2012. With this catalyst now pushed out and in question the risk/reward in BPI shares is much less compelling." Bridgepoint Education closed at $14.25 on Monday.