The corporate finance department of Howard Brothers, an investment banking firm, has decided to compete for the business of ETV Corporation. Knowing that the firm's brokerage unit now has a "sell" recommendation on ETV, the head of investment banking has asked the head of the brokerage unit to change the recommendation from "sell" to "buy.” According to the CFA INSTITUTE Standards of Professional Conduct, the brokerage unit should:

a. reassign responsibility for rating the stock to the head of the investment banking unit.

b. Assign a new analyst to decide if the stock deserves a higher rating.

c. Remove the company from the research universe, put it on a restricted list, and give only factual information about the firm.

d. increase the rating by no more than one increment (in this case, to a "hold" recommendation).