UPDATE: Macquarie Capital Downgrades Symantec Following Departure of President deSouza

In a report published Tuesday, Macquarie Capital analyst Brad Zelnick downgraded the rating on

from Outperform to Neutral, and lowered the price target from $26.00 to $24.00. In the report, Macquarie Capital noted, “We are downgrading Symantec shares to Neutral and reducing our target price to $24 following the departure of President Francis deSouza. The news is the latest in a string of departures that we believe raise the near-term risk profile beyond which we cited in our note ‘Finding True North'. While we see CEO Steve Bennett ultimately exceeding 30% operating margins, we believe SYMC shares largely price in much of the upside and investors may be complacent with the execution risks. We see downside potential of the stock rerating to as low as 8-9x FCF, or $18-20 per share.” Symantec Corporation closed on Monday at $23.21.