UPDATE: Baird Dowgrades Symantec Due to the "Unexpected Termination" of CEO Steve Bennett

In a note released Friday morning, Baird analyst Steven Ashley downgraded Symantec SYMC from Outperform to Neutral and lowered his price target from $26 to $22. This downgrade comes amid news that Symantec's board of directors has terminated CEO Steve Bennett. According to Ashley, although the board has reiterated its support of Bennett's plan to reach organic revenue growth of five percent and >30 percent EBIT margins by 2017, they did not believe this plan was "transpiring as quickly as hoped." Mike Brown. a member of the board since 2005, is set to serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found. In a final note, Symantec has reiterated its prior FY 4Q guidance.