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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AOL, Cisco, Etsy, GoDaddy, MannKind, Virtu, Caterpillar, Nokia and More

Stocks were up very slightly Monday morning, on the heels of a rate cut in China and after a strong week before. While stocks are close top all-time highs, the one trend that has been seen time and again is that investors buy stocks on every single pullback, for almost four years now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day to find new trading and investment ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, but other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was reiterated as Buy at Needham. CLSA downgraded AOL to Sell from an already cautious Underperform rating. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating but raised its target price to $52 from $47. AOL closed at $43.43 a share and has a consensus price target of $47.50.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was raised to Overweight from Sector Perform at Pacific Crest. Cisco closed at $29.23 and has a consensus price target of $30.10.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $14 price target at Wedbush Securities. Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Neutral rating. After closing at $22.71, Etsy is now down handily from its post-IPO high of $35.74. And shares were indicated down close to 8% at $20.90 early on Monday.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) has seen its quiet period come to an end. Most of the firms have started the Web hosting and site services provider positively: as Overweight at Barclays, as Buy at Citigroup, as Overweight at JPMorgan and as Outperform at Oppenheimer. It closed at $24.88 and has a post-IPO range of $20.00 to $27.27.

MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. MLV also has reportedly downgraded MannKind’s price target to $4 from $7. After closing at $3.81, MannKind has a 52-week range of $3.52 to $11.48, and its consensus price target was closer to $7 before these calls. Shares were indicated down over 3% at $3.68 in premarket trading on Monday.

Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) saw its quiet period end and analysts have so far been more reserved on the high-frequency trader and market maker. It was started as Neutral at JPMorgan, as Neutral at Goldman Sachs and as Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets. UBS started it as Buy, and Virtu was started as Buy at Evercore ISI as well. Virtu closed at $22.30 and has a post-IPO trading range of $20.75 to $24.25.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following stocks:

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W. Baird.

Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ: DYAX) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Egalet Corp. (NASDAQ: EGLT) was started as Buy with a $24 price target (versus $9.10 close) at Guggenheim.

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) was reiterated as Buy with a $70 price target at Argus, with the firm saying the recent weakness has offered a solid valuation discount.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Roth Capital.

Hi-Crush Partners L.P. (NYSE: HCLP) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the real cut is in the price target, to $35 from $60, versus a $31.37 close.

ALSO READ: 11 Analyst Stocks Under $10 With Massive Upside Targets

JD.Com Inc (NASDAQ: JD) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $37 from $35 at Brean.

Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W. Baird.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

National-Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Pacific Crest.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush Securities.

Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPR) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Web.com Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) was raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was started as Hold and with a $25 price target (versus a $23.75 close) at Deutsche Bank.

ALSO READ: 9 Oil and Gas Stocks Analysts Want You to Buy Now

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alcatel-Lucent, Choice Hotels, CyberArk, Yelp, Rocket Fuel and about 20 more companies.

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