Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Microsoft, Target, Zynga and More

Investing

Published: August 22, 2013 8:40 am

Last Updated: August 22, 2013 8:42 am

Now that stocks have pulled back and interest rates have risen, investors are looking for more guidance on which stocks they should still buy and which stocks they should sell or avoid. 24/7 Wall St. goes over many analyst research calls from Wall Street to find great ideas in value stocks, growth stocks and also in dividend stocks. These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from select Wall Street research reports.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) was started as Outperform with a $7 to $9 price target range at Wells Fargo.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $144 from $139 at Credit Suisse.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform by Raymond James.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was reiterated as Buy but that price target was raised to $90 from $83 at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was reiterated as Buy but the price target was raised to $200 from $190 at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral with a $38 price target at Nomura.

Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and it was given a price range of $240 to $248 at Wells Fargo.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was started with an Outperform rating and a $300 price target at Oppenheimer.

Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) was started as Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at William Blair and downgraded to Buy from Strong Buy by ISI Group. Janney Capital also downgraded it to Neutral from Buy, and Credit Suisse lowered its 2013 earnings estimates.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was started with an Outperform rating at Oppenheimer

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was started with a Hold rating by Benchmark.

We have two fresh special reports out: one is ten companies set to double their revenues in the next three to four years (or less) and the second is five great stocks trading under book value.

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