JPMorgan analyst Michael Gambardella downgraded Arconic (ARNC) to Neutral and lowered his price target for the shares to $22 from $24. The analyst cites valuation for the downgrade. The shares are gradually pricing in a buyout, which is appropriate, Gambardella tells investors in a research note. Bloomberg on January 2 reported that Apollo Global (APO) in talks to buy Arconic for $22 per share.

Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Apple (AAPL) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Guggenheim with analyst Robert Cihra saying the average selling price of the iPhone has increased a "dramatic" $220, or 40%, over the past 10 years, reflecting its "growing value to both consumer and business markets." 2. Kellogg (K) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan with analyst Ken Goldman saying that while nothing at the company's investor day "necessarily disappointed" him, he also did not gain "much comfort that the bottom-line turnaround would be swift." 3. Apollo Global (APO) and Carlyle Group (CG) were downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. 4. Conagra Brands (CAG) downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Bernstein with analyst Alexia Howard saying the frozen category has experienced positive growth over the past year, largely led by new product innovation from Conagra and Pinnacle Foods, but this now seems to be running out of steam. 5. Tenneco (TEN) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with analyst Armintas Sinkevicius citing its elevated leverage and limited free cash flow conversion in what he views as an increasingly uncertain environment for auto suppliers. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

As previously reported, Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys downgraded Apollo Global (APO) and Carlyle Group (CG), each to Equal Weight from Overweight, stating that he sees growing risk to portfolio harvesting and dividends and favors discount brokers in a more volatile, late cycle environment. On Apollo, he said he now has less conviction that cash performance fees can accelerate over the next 12 months given the more volatile market backdrop. On Carlyle, he sees risk to growing cash performance fees with increased market volatility. Cyprys lowered his price target on Apollo shares to $34 from $42 and cut his price target on Carlyle shares to $23 from $31.