Matt Murray, once an influential small-cap pharmaceutical analyst at PIPEs underwriter Rodman & Renshaw, found himself in the kind of pickle that sell-side analysts fear most. He says that he was not allowed by his bosses to downgrade companies after they hit their price targets. He made such a request of Halozyme and was turned down. So he asked Rodman's compliance chief to strike his name from reports. A series of nasty confrontations ensued, resulting in Murray being fired. The New York Attorney General's office and the Securities and Exchange Commission are now looking into the incident. You have to wonder, especially at small shops, just how analysts are viewed these days. This suggests that some executives still see analysts as appendages of the sales team.

For more on this:
- Here's a New York Post article
- Another analyst fired for calling things as he saw them. Article