UPDATE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Reiterates Neutral Rating, Raises PT on Ameristar Casinos

In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating on Ameristar Casinos (NASDAQ: ASCA), and raised its price target from $19.00 to $22.50.

BofA Merrill Lynch noted, “We are raising our PO to $22.50 from $19 on improving near-term sentiment from 1) canceling the proposed Springfield, Massachusetts project and 2) PENN's recently announced REIT conversion. We're tweaking estimates slightly to reflect regional gaming data to date. We maintain our Neutral rating based on continued top-line challenges and the broader thesis shift from value to growth with Lake Charles under construction. Our $22.50 PO is still based on 7x our 2013E EBITDA of $358.5M ($358.8M previously).”

Ameristar Casinos closed on Tuesday at $22.10.

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