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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Gap, Rio Tinto, Tesoro, Valero, Zynga and More

Stocks were higher on Friday the 13th. For over two years now, investors have used every single pullback as a chance to keep buying stocks they wanted to own or that were overlooked or offered value. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. While some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) had competing calls. It was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gabelli but raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Wells Fargo.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at HSBC.

ALSO READ: Global Gold Trend Surprise

Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) was started as Outperform with a $100 price target (versus a $80.12 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: Cowen Top Alternative Energy Stocks to Buy

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) was raised to Buy from Hold with target of $96 (versus a $83.27 close) at Argus.

Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) was down over 6% to $81.42 on Thursday after earnings. The stock was removed from the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs and was downgraded to Neutral by the firm, and the price target was cut to $91 from $96. Tesoro was also downgraded to Sector Perform from a prior Outperform rating at RBC Capital Markets.

Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was raised to the prized Conviction Buy List from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

ALSO READ: How GE Just Became More Activist Investor Friendly

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE: ZTS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $48 price target (versus a $45.79 close) at J.P. Morgan.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was down over 14% at $2.28 after its earnings report came with a wider loss forecast. The game maker saw its price target cut to $2.50 from $4 at Canaccord Genuity. Benchmark also reportedly cut its target to $2.35.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in Ally Financial, Baidu, NetApp, Tesla Motors, Zuliliy and over a dozen more stocks.

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