The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Desjardins's Chris MacCulloch has downgraded Vermilion Energy to "hold" from "buy." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. MacCulloch has an unchanged share target of $12.50. Analysts on average target the shares at $13.68. Mr. MacCulloch says in a note: "While we applaud the company's transformation into a global natural gas producer through recent acquisitions and the shedding of non-core oil-weighted assets in North America, we see limited upcoming catalysts to support multiple expansion. On the M&A front, although we believe the potential sale of the Central European assets and the acquisition of natural gas–weighted assets in the Netherlands or Germany would be positively received by the market to the extent that it would better focus the portfolio, we view these as longer-dated catalysts. We also expect increased competition for European deal flow, including from Tenaz Energy, which has achieved considerable success from its two most recent acquisitions in the Netherlands and Germany. Moreover, corporate debt levels remain elevated following the acquisition of Westbrick Energy, which could limit Vermilion's ability to execute accretive acquisitions."