Equity Brief: Ratings Changes for September 17th: DFS, DRQ, DWSN, EGOV

A number of stocks were upgraded and downgraded by equities research analysts today, as reported by Analyst Ratings Network (http://bit.ly/arndailyr) and Equity Brief:

Stifel Nicolaus  downgraded shares of Discover Financial Services DFS from a buy rating to a hold rating. They wrote, "We are downgrading DFS from Buy to Hold on valuation as the stock reached our $39 target price late last week. While we continue to be believers in the story and expect earnings momentum to persist near-term, we have a tougher time justifying another target price raise given the unsettled macro environment. Although QE3 may prove to successfully nudge the economy back into a sustainable recovery, this rally in financials appears a bit premature, in our view."

Global Hunter Securities  downgraded shares of Dril-Quip DRQ from an accumulate rating to a neutral rating. Their analysts now have a $79.00 price target on the stock.

Barrington Research  initiated coverage on shares of Dawson Geophysical Company DWSN. They issued an outperform rating on the stock and set a $32.00 price target.

Avondale Partners  downgraded shares of NIC Inc. EGOV from an outperform rating to a market perform rating.

Robert W. Baird  downgraded shares of G&K Services, Inc. GKSR from an outperform rating to a neutral rating. Their analysts now have a $37.00 price target on the stock.

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