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Charles Brindamour, president and CEO of Intact Financial.John Morstad/The Globe and Mail

Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day.

Both Desjardins Securities and Raymond James slashed their outlook for gold and silver prices today, resulting in a number of rating downgrades and price target cuts for the precious metals equities they cover.

Raymond James now expects gold prices to average $1,200 (U.S.) per ounce next year, down from its last forecast of $1,275, with a long-term gold price now seen at $1,200. Its forecast for silver prices took an even bigger tumble, with prices next year now seen averaging $17 (U.S.) per ounce, down from $21, with a long-term price now seen at $17.

"Gold and silver prices have been increasingly volatile of late, principally (in our view) due to recent U.S. dollar strength. While undoubtedly there are a number of influencers on the metal price, we view headwinds that include a strengthening U.S. dollar, a looming fed rate hike, and the re-igniting of ETF outflows (mainly gold) as outweighing broader influencers such as Japanese quantitative easing and a weakening euro-zone recovery," said Raymond James analyst Phil Russo. "While the underlying strength of the U.S. economy can be perpetually debated, until we begin to see a change in the status quo (such as inflation indicators or a faltering of U.S. equity market strength), gold is unlikely to meaningfully break out of its current narrow trading range of $1,150-$1,250/oz, in our view. We expect the same for silver, which will continue to lag gold and trade in a relatively tight range of $16.00-$18.00/oz in the near-term."

Mr. Russo reduced target prices by an average of 14 per cent for the gold equities he follows, and 20 per cent for silver. ATAC Resources, AuRico Gold, First Majestic Silver, Pan American Silver, and Probe Mines were downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform." Detour Gold and Fortuna Silver Mines were downgraded to "outperform" from "strong buy." There was one upgrade: Silvercorp Metals went to "outperform" from "market perform," though its price target was trimmed to $2 from $2.20.

Desjardins Securities has a similar view on gold prices, now forecasting bullion to average $1,200 next year, with a long-term price of $1,275. It sees silver averaging $16.94 next year, with a long-term price of $21.25. Desjardins Securities analyst Michael Parkin downgraded AuRico Gold to "hold" from "buy" with its price target lowered to $4.90 from $5.25. New Gold was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" with its price target cut to $5.50 from $6.

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Intact Financial Corp.'s stock is due for a pause after having surged in recent weeks on strong earnings and good defensive characteristics in a volatile market, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Geoffrey Kwan said.

Before the beginning of trading on Monday, shares in Canada's largest property and casualty insurer were up by almost 10 per cent since the end of August.

Mr. Kwan downgraded the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform" and maintained a price target of $84 (Canadian).

"Our positive fundamental outlook remains unchanged and due to share price appreciation, our downgrade reflects a total return that is more in line with the average of our coverage universe," he said.

The analyst consensus price target for Intact Financial over the next year is $81.54, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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Speculation that Concordia Healthcare Corp. is on the cusp of a major acquisition has become impossible to ignore, Canaccord Genuity analyst Neil Maruoka said.

"Recently, there has been a tremendous amount of chatter that Concordia will complete a deal before year end that has the potential to double its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for 2015," Mr. Maruoka said.

"At this point, we can talk until we're blue in the face about 'fundamental analysis' and 'reasonable valuation metrics' for specialty pharmaceutical companies, but these will matter little with a very accretive acquisition."

He upgraded the stock to "speculative buy" from "hold" and raised his target price to $55 (Canadian) from $42. The analyst consensus price target over the next year is $47.50.

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Rising profitability at the gasoline pump should drive further gains in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.'s shares, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Irene Nattel said.

Although the company commands a premium trading multiple largely as a result of anticipation for future acquisitions, Couche-Tard "continues to deliver solid results from underlying operations," Ms. Nattel said.

When the company reports its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, investors will partly be focused on commentary surround "the sustainability of motor fuel margins in the context of a protracted decline in crude prices," she said.

She raised her price target on the stock to $44 (Canadian) from $37 and maintained a "sector perform" rating. The analyst consensus price target over the next year is $37.63.

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In other analyst actions:

Goldman Sachs downgraded Costco Wholesale to "buy" from "conviction buy" but raised its price target to $148 (U.S.) from $145.

FBR Capital downgraded Tyco International to "market perform" from "outperform" and cut its price target to $42 (U.S.) from $44.

Raymond James upgraded Occidental Petroleum to "strong buy" from "outperform" with a price target of $105 (U.S.).

Raymond James downgraded Exxon Mobil to "market perform" from "outperform." Raymond James does not give price targets to market perform stocks.

Raymond James downgraded Chevron to "outperform" from "strong buy" with a price target of $140 (U.S.)

Raymond James upgraded Hess to "outperform" from "market perform" with a price target of $100 (U.S.)

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