Piper Jaffray analyst David Amsellem lifted his price target on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) to $176.00 (from $144.00) following Q4 results and plans to acquire Salix for $158 per share but maintained a Neutral rating.

Amsellem commented, "Though we believe that visibility on meaningful further value creation for VRX (beyond today's gap up in the shares) would be strong with the addition of SLXP (i.e., VRX is now trading at a 2016 P/E of 14x our pro forma EPS estimate of $13.93 in the context of a longterm EPS CAGR that could easily be in the high teens), we are nonetheless remaining cautious on the shares given our view that another offer for SLXP is still a very real possibility (refer to our SLXP note on 2/22/15 here for more details). We reiterate our Neutral rating and are raising our PT to $176 from $144 (reflecting P/E expansion with the SLXP acquisition pending but tempered by the possibility of another offer)."

The firm trimmed FY 2015 EPS from $10.30 to $10.12 and FY 2016 EPS from $11.76 to $11.74.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals closed at $198.75 yesterday.