UPDATE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Lowers PO on Newell Rubbermaid to $22

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is out with its report today on Newell Rubbermaid NWL, lowering its PO from $24 to $22. In a note to clients, Bank of America Merrill Lynch writes, "On the Q2 call (late Jul), we expect mgmt to take a view on the 2011 EPS outlook (currently $1.60-$1.67), in addition to new CEO Mike Polk providing preliminary, high-level thoughts. While we suspect NWL remains positioned to deliver its 2011 target, we are lowering our EPS est by 10c to $1.52 in order to account for the potential that Mr. Polk chooses to leave ample margin for error. We maintain our 11% EPS growth rate for 2012 but lower our 2012 est to $1.68, and take our 12m price objective to $22 from $24, still using a target valuation of 13x our est." Shares of NWL closed Thursday at $16.07, up 1.26% from Wednesday's close.