Morgan Stanley, Piper Jaffray Defend Monsanto (MON) Amid Sell-Off

Shares of Monsanto (NYSE: MON) came roaring back to make a brief move into positive territory following some reassuring mid-day comments from analysts in regards to Monday's sell-off.

Monsanto shares pushed to as low as $67.36 earlier (down about 4.7 percent from last week's closing price) amid a WSJ article which cites recent data suggesting the company's corn plant is losing resistance to rootworms.

Morgan Stanley's Vincent Andrews argues the rumor just isn't true. The analyst believes if this were the case, he likely would have been informed by farmers and noticed out of the ordinary pricing patterns. Moreover, even if the claims turn out to be accurate, Andrews doesn't expect the issue to be material enough to impact Monsanto's financials.

Piper Jaffray's Mike Cox recommended investors buy Monsanto shares on the dip. The analyst said farmers he has spoken to were not nearly as concerned by the report. Apparently the data was originally published almost a month ago.

Both Morgan Stanley and Piper Jaffray maintain Overweight ratings on shares of Monsanto. Piper Jaffray has a $90 price target on the stock.

The stock has given up some of the intraday gain in the afternoon session. Shares last traded at $69.47, down about 1.7 percent from Friday's close.

Visit our Analyst Ratings page to track all the market-moving analyst calls on Monsanto shares.

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