Nexen (NYSE:NXY) was downgraded from Overweight to Neutral at JP Morgan today. The stock closed yesterday at $26.92 on volume of 5.0 million shares, below average daily volume of 12.4 million.

Nexen Inc., operates as an energy company and explores for, develops, produces and markets crude oil, natural gas and power. The Company's oil and gas exploration and development activities are conducted in the North Sea, Canada, Gulf of Mexico, offshore West Africa, and Yemen.

Nexen share prices have moved between a 52-week high of $27.04 and a 52-week low of $14.63 and closed yesterday at 84% above that low price at $26.92 per share. The 200-day and 50-day moving averages have moved 0.57% higher and 0.77% higher over the past week, respectively.

There is potential upside of 2.6% for shares of Nexen based on a current price of $26.92 and an average consensus analyst price target of $27.63. Nexen shares have support at the 50-day moving average (MA) of $25.63 and additional support at the 200-day MA of $22.13.

SmarTrend recommended that subscribers consider buying shares of Nexen on June 29th, 2012 as our proprietary SmarTrend analytics indicated a new Uptrend was in progress when shares hit $17.13. Since that recommendation, shares of Nexen have risen 57.2%. We continue to monitor NXY for any potential shift so investors can protect gains and will alert SmarTrend subscribers immediately.