Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Allstate, Hecla, Hertz, MGIC, Nokia, Office Depot, P&G and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were soft Monday morning on news that Japan is effectively back in recession. Still, investors have proven repeatedly that they will buy stocks that are discounted or those they think are overlooked. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of brokerage analyst research reports each day, on the hunt for new trading and investment ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports are about stocks to buy, and some of them cover or stocks to sell or avoid.

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Aegon N.V. (NYSE: AEG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE: DNR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the $18 price target was removed at Sterne Agee. It also was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $16 from $19 at Credit Suisse.

Enova International Inc. (NYSE: ENVA) was started with Buy rating and $35 price target (versus a $25.12 close) at Sterne Agee.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) may have risen some 9% last Friday, but the small-cap miner was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: Major Changes to Berkshire Hathaway Stocks Holdings

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the valuation range was lowered to $20 to $24 from $30 to $33 at Wells Fargo.

MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) was maintained as Buy but was added to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs, and the price target was raised to $12 from $11 (versus a $8.88 close).

Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, and it received positive comments from Canaccord Genuity.

Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs after the stock effectively reached its target price.

Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: ORBK) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $20.00 at Needham after recent weakness.

ALSO READ: How Analysts Rate Cisco Now After Earnings

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with an $89 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $95 price target (versus a $71.78 close) at Credit Suisse.

Volcano Corp. (NASDAQ: VOLC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was cut to $14 from $16 (versus a $10.92 close) at Credit Suisse.

Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley.

Over the weekend we had seven analyst stocks under $10 with massive implied upside in their price targets.

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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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