Needham & Company Downgrades St. Jude Medical (STJ) to Hold Following Takeover

Needham & Company downgraded St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) from Buy to Hold after the company agreed to be acquired by Abbott.

Analyst Mike Matson commented, "After Abbott (ABT) denied a report last summer in the Financial Times that it was preparing a bid for STJ, ABT announced an agreement to acquire STJ yesterday morning. We think that ABT is paying a fair price for STJ and think that other bidders are unlikely. Based on other recent large M&A transactions in the med tech space, we worry that ABT shares could fall further and drag STJ shares down as well given the stock component of the transaction. As a result, we downgrade STJ to Hold."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on St. Jude Medical click here. For more ratings news on St. Jude Medical click here.

Shares of St. Jude Medical closed at $77.79 yesterday.

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