Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: JDSU, JD.com, Palo Alto, Petrobras, SeaWorld, Twitter, Yandex and More

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
By Jon C. Ogg Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Stocks were weak on Thursday morning, and the markets are showing that they can take at least a little bit of a breather. What is interesting is that investors are still looking for opportunities with stocks effectively just under all-time highs. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports feature stocks to buy, but others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations covered by 24/7 Wall St.

CBOE Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) was started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Express Scripts Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $75 price target (versus a $75.05 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was started with a Hold at Deutsche Bank.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was started with a Buy rating at Brean Capital.

JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets, with a price target hike to $18 from $11. This may be the first of several positives after its proposed breakup.

READ ALSO: Is Regulation Costing Manufacturers $2 Trillion?

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV) was started as Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $23.62 close) at Jefferies.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NSM) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Omnicare Inc. (NYSE: OCR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $76 price target (versus $62.49 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was started as Buy with a $120 price target (versus a $98.75 close) at Roth Capital.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, was started as Outperform at Cowen.

SeaWorld Entertainement Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was started as Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $52.91 close) at Canaccord Genuity, on the heels of a UBS upgrade on Wednesday.

Walter Investment Management Corp. (NYSE: WAC) was started as Underweight with a $22 price target (versus a $24.70 close) at Barclays.

Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $1.50 price target (versus $a 0.68 close) at B. Riley.

READ ALSO: The Massive Number of Risk Disclosures in the Alibaba IPO Filing

Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) was started with a Buy rating and given a $38 price target (versus a $30.80 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Netflix, eBay, GT Advanced Technology, Noodles & Co., Twitter and a dozen more.

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.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618