Mohawk's Rating Cut by Legg Mason on Raw Mater

New York, March 23—-Legg Mason analysts have cut their rating on Mohawk Industries Inc. to "hold" from "buy" because margins at the company will be pressured until oil prices begin to decline. Legg Mason analysts wrote, "While on the one hand we hate to make a ratings change on raw material price changes, we feel we have little choice given the continuing cost escalations." Longer-term investors should ignore the ratings change and hold the shares, the analysts said, adding the downgrade was based solely on raw materials pricing. Shares fell 36 cents Tuesday to $87.45.