Western Alliance Bancorp (NYSE:WAL) shares were downgraded to "Perform" from "Outperform" by Oppenheimer analyst Terry McEvoy in light of the favorable stock price performance both year-to-date and over the past year. McEvoy, who also rescinded $9.50 price target on the stock, wrote WAL has appreciated 52 percent so far in 2012 compared with the 12 percent at the Nasdaq Bank Index. [More...]