Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) Downgraded by Piper Jaffray (PJC)

Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC) from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.Separately, analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) upgraded shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, January 10th. Analysts at Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals in a research note to investors on Monday, January 9th. Also, analysts at Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals in a research note to investors on Thursday, December 22nd.Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., formerly Biovail Corporation, is a specialty pharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on developing and commercializing products in specialty central nervous system (CNS) disorders. As of December 31, 2009, the Company’s products within its development pipeline included Staccato loxapine, Pimavanserin, BVF-018, Fipamezole and GDNF. In May 2009, the Company acquired the United States commercialization rights to Wellbutrin XL from The GlaxoSmithKline Group of Companies (GSK). In June 2009, it acquired the worldwide development and commercialization rights to the entire portfolio of tetrabenazine products, including Xenazine and Nitoman, held by Cambridge Laboratories (Ireland) Ltd. (Cambridge).Valeant Pharmaceuticals opened at 50.72 on Thursday. Valeant Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $32.05 and a 52-week high of $57.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.52 and a 200-day moving average of $43.95. The company has a market cap of $15.617 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 216.75.