It is unemployment Friday, and the markets hit new highs ahead of the report yet again. Despite all-time Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 highs, investors keep getting told that this is now a stock picker’s market rather than a raging bull market. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas and hidden gems for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
These are this Friday’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Angie’s List Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $16 price target (versus a $10.10 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by Wells Fargo.
CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ: CECE) was started with an Outperform rating at William Blair.
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $55 from $49 (versus a $47.41 close) at Goldman Sachs.
First NBC Bank Holding Co. (NASDAQ: NBCB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee based on a lack of positive news regarding tax credits.
Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target is $6 (versus a $5.72 close) at Jefferies.
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Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $155 price target (versus a $124.35 close) at Stifel.
Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $70 price target (versus a $61.70 closing price) at Merrill Lynch. Its price target was also raised to $67 at RBC Capital Markets.
Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was reiterated as buy at Topeka Capital Markets, but the price target was raised to $515 from $421 (versus a $428.35 close).
Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG) was started with an Outperform rating and a $41 price target (versus a $35.71 close) at Imperial Capital.
Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $10 from $14 (versus a $7.89 close) based on its LED outlook at Canaccord Genuity.
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Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen, and the price target was set at $40 (versus a $33.58 close). Keep in mind that this is on the heels of a more than 8 million share secondary priced at $32.45 this week.
Watts Water Technologies Inc. (NYSE: WTS) was raised to Buy from Hold and given a $65 price target (versus a $58.55 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
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