Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Chevron, Exxon, Merck, Tesla, Disney, Yelp and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks are mixed on Thursday after a Yellen-inspired low interest rate environment promise, but investors remain wary. They want gains from the stock market, but they want to avoid the losers. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning for new ideas. The media keeps saying it is a stock picker’s market. These are this Thursday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A. (NYSE: BUD) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and shares are up about 3% after earnings.

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) was started as Buy at Nomura.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, but this is a valuation call after a strong run higher.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Barclays.

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Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised by $10 to $114 by Argus, based on lower capex and higher free cash flow expectations.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Barclays.

Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

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GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was raised to $102 from $65 by Canaccord Genuity, based on Dravet’s IND open.

J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital.

Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM) was crushed after poor earnings and on news that its CFO was leaving the company, sending shares down 35% to $3.45, an all-time low. The company was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer and was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley.

ALSO READ: Why Whole Foods Could Finally Be a Great Long-Term Buy, at Least Soon

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was maintained as Neutral with a $200 price target by Goldman Sachs.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

ALSO READ: Twitter Could Bust Its IPO Price

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was reiterated as Buy with a target price of $96 at Argus, and this is only $1 shy of the highest analyst price target.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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