Susquehanna analyst Don Carson downgraded Monsanto Company from Positive to Neutral, while raising its price target from $125 to $128. The downgrade is not a result of increasing headwinds or poor performance, but rather because the 9-percent upside from Bayer AG (ADR) 's $128 per share acquisition is below Susquehanna’s 15-percent minimum for a Positive rating. Why Downgrade If Acquisition Is All But Certain? Carson is confident that the Bayer acquisition will close, albeit with some revisions at the suggestion of antitrust authorities in the U.S. and South Africa, but notes that the risk of a block cannot be dismissed. Carson’s concerns stem from political considerations more so than economic ones. The consensus expectation that the deal will close is based largely on ChemChina’s acquisition of Syngenta AG (ADR) and the Dow Chemical Co –E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co merger, but neither resulted in a foreign entity taking ownership of a globally-leading U.S. company.Read more