Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amarin, CenturyLink, Legg Mason, Rackspace, Transocean, Valero and More

Investing

Published: February 18, 2015 8:35 am

Last Updated: February 18, 2015 8:38 am

Stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday after hitting new highs again. Investors have proven repeatedly for more than two years now that they want to buy all the dips. They also want to buy value or overlooked growth stories. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of new analyst research calls each day to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these research reports cover stocks to Buy. Other reports cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from 24/7 Wall St.

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Amarin Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: AMRN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust.

Carlyle Group L.P. (NASDAQ: CG) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral, and the price target was cut to $33 from $37 (versus a $39.29 close), at Goldman Sachs.

Financial Engines Inc. (NASDAQ: FNGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

ALSO READ: Meet the New 2015 Warren Buffett Stocks

Insulet Corp. (NASDAQ: PODD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $35 from $38 (versus a $32.36 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Linear Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: LLTC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS.

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was started as Underperform with a $52 target price (versus a $55.13 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.

Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $58 price target (versus a $49.87 close) at Pacific Crest. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Hold rating after earnings but raised the target price to $42 from $38.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was started as Outperform and with a $105 price target (versus a $88.89 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was started as Underperform and with a $16 price target (versus a $18.30 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

ALSO READ: 4 Top Biotech Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2015

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was started as Outperform and with a $16 price target (versus a $12.56 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

zulily Inc. (NASDAQ: ZU) received multiple downgrades last week after atrocious earnings and guidance. Now it has been downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included American Express, Box, Freescale Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Nordstrom and about a dozen more.

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