Citi analyst Jason Bazinet upgraded Liberty SiriusXM to Buy and raised his price target for the shares to $54 from $48. Liberty Sirius, which holds nothing other than Sirius (SIRI) shares, trades at a "wide discount" to net asset value, Bazinet tells investors in a research note. He suspects Liberty management wants to close the 20% net asset value gap. Until the NAV gap is closed, it may be difficult for SiriusXM and Liberty Sirius to "do what's logical," or combine into a single security, the analyst contends. Bazinet believes an acquisition of Pandora Media (P) by Liberty Sirius may narrow the NAV discount.

Citi upgraded Sirius XM (SIRI) to Neutral from Sell with a price target of $3.30, down from $4.10. Over the last few months, the net asset value discount between Liberty SiriusXM (LSXMA) and Sirius XM has narrowed from 40% to 2%. To Citi's surprise, this occurred via a decline in Sirius XM's equity without appreciation in Liberty SiriusXM's value. The firm now finds the risk/reward in both securities as relatively balanced. As such, Citi upgraded Sirius XM from Sell to Neutral and downgraded Liberty SiriusXM from Buy to Neutral.

Pivotal Research upgraded Sirius XM (SIRI) to Buy from Hold with a price target of $4.90, down from $5.05. The magnitude of the decline in Sirius XM's valuation has been surprising, exacerbated by a current lack of institutional ownership and the fact most investors owned parent Liberty Sirius XM (LSXMK) to play the narrowing of the net asset value gap rather than as a way to invest in Sirius, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says this has created an attractive investment opportunity, highlighted by the 55% upside to its new target price. It views Sirius as a free cash flow acceleration story.