** Truist Securities downgrades medical equipment maker Penumbra PEN.N to "hold" from "buy"

** Boston Scientific BSX.N said on Thursday that it will buy PEN in a deal valued at about $14.5 billion

** We don't see any major hurdles to this deal closing and believe it will be hard to top BSX given the smooth strategic fit, brokerage says

** 11 of 19 brokerages rate the stock "buy" and 8 "hold"; their median PT is $370

** Including session's move, PEN up 34% in the last 12 months

(Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru)

((Pragyan.Kalita@thomsonreuters.com))