UPDATE: Sterne Agee Downgrades Heartland Payment Systems on Limited Upside, Lower Momentum

In a report published Thursday, Sterne Agee analyst Greg Smith downgraded the rating on Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) from Buy to Neutral, and removed the $43.00 price target.

In the report, Sterne Agee noted, “We are downgrading HPY shares to Neutral from Buy as the stock has limited upside to our prior $43 target and we no longer believe that consensus estimates are too low, which had been the crux of our bullish thesis. We are lowering our estimates after many quarters of raising our estimates. The reduction in our estimates is based largely on the dilutive Leaf acquisition, but this still signals a shift in momentum, which may limit upside in the shares until better visibility into 2014 emerges.”

Heartland Payment Systems closed on Wednesday at $41.67.