hi,
It’s been a while, but I recently have taken a closer look at identifying analysts in IBES.
It looks like the analysts names (and broker name) are in the recommendation files (ibes.recddet) and in the price target files (e.g. ibes.ptgdet).
The confusing thing is that these files contain a ‘masked’ analyst ID. It turns out (or at least it looks that way) that these IDs get shuffled (i.e., you will get a match with the other tables, but that is probably not the same analyst).
/* it looks like they get shuffled */
/* analyst, broker in detail file */
data test (keep = estimator analys);
set ibes.det_epsus;
where cusip eq "26878510" and year (actdats) > 2012;
run;
proc sort data=test nodupkey ; by analys estimator ;run;
/* analyst, broker in recommendation file */
data test2 (keep = EMASKCD AMASKCD);
set ibes.recddet;
where cusip eq "26878510" and year (actdats) > 2012;
run;
proc sort data=test2 nodupkey ; by AMASKCD EMASKCD ;run;
This code pulls the analyst-broker combinations for a sample firm in the forecast detail file, compared with the recommendations. And, these combinations do not match up (consistent with shuffling).
For this sample firm, the names in the recommendation file match up with the analysts mentioned at the firm’s website: http://investorcenter.epenergy.com/analyst-contact
So, it looks like you can still identify analysts, but then you are limited to using the recommendation/target files. See for example:
“We start by identifying all sell-side analysts on the I/B/E/S tape who provide at least one recommendation on a domestic stock between 1993 and 2006.”
Cohen et al, 2010, JOF (Sell-side school ties), p. 1416
Hope this helps, I would be interested in finding ways ‘around’ this as well 
Best regards,
Joost
