UPDATE: Bank of America Reduces PO to $30 on Nustar GP Holdings; Asphalt Partial Exit Worse Than Expected

Bank of America reiterated its Outperform rating on Nustar GP Holdings

and reduced its price target from $31 to $30 following the announcement that the company's partial exit from asphalt operations would have a worse-than-expected impact. Bank of America noted, "On Friday morning before market open, NuStar Energy (NS) announced it would be selling 50% of its asphalt operations and that 2Q12 results would be much worse than expected due to difficult conditions at its asphalt operations and hedging gone awry (or what appeared to be lack of hedging altogether) at its fuels marketing operations (2Q loss mars asphalt exit; lower ests and PO to $52). As is the case with NS, we broadly view both announcements as a negative for NS' general partner (GP), NSH." Nustar GP Holdings closed at $31.01 on Friday.