UPDATE: Sterne Agee Downgrades Walter Investment Management to Neutral on Pending OCC Settlement

Sterne Agee reduced its rating on Walter Investment Management

from Buy to Neutral and lowered its price target from $47 to $44. Sterne Agee said, "The prospect that the pending/potential OCC settlement with 16 major institutions could delay servicing transfers (like it did last year) is something worth factoring into our price target. … We are reducing our price target from $47 to $44 to reflect the potential delay in what is expected to be $60+ billion in new servicing wins currently in WAC's exclusive pipeline. These transfers were included in our price target, but not our EPS estimates. With the shares within 5% of this target we are reducing our rating from BUY to NEUTRAL." Walter Investment Management closed at $42.21 on Thursday.