UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Wal-Mart to Hold, Removes $83.00 PT

Wal-Mart

was downgraded from Buy to Hold by Stifel Nicolaus Friday morning. The firm removed the $83 price target. David A. Schick, analyst at Stifel, said, “strategic risk (pricing), political risks (wages and FCPA), growing macro pressures, ramping investments, and slowing dividends” offset “significant investments in e-commerce and small stores.” Schick believes, “WMT likely needs to break well below the 5.9-6.1% OM brand of the last 5 years and with ROIC inflecting negatively he doesn't expect either estimates or multiples to improve in the short-medium term.” Wal-Mart is clearly in a transitionary period as it looks to accelerate small store expansion, and move more business online. Shares of Wal-Mart are lower by 0.5 percent to $73.18 as investors continue to take profits following the stock's run-up last week ahead of