Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Schwab, 3D Systems, Stratasys, Groupon, Lifepoint, E*Trade and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were lower on Thursday, going into the unemployment and payrolls report. What has held true for almost four years now is that investors have lined up and bought their favorite stocks on every pullback. The reasons they find to buy are always different, but that has been the case regardless. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports each day to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $36 price target (versus a $32.26 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is almost $34.

3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) was started as Market Perform with a $21.00 price target (versus a $21.75 close) at FBR. The consensus price target now is only $24.63.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was started with a Buy rating and price target of $8.50 (versus a $6.00 close) at Deutsche Bank. This was a top analyst call on Thursday as well, with B. Riley downgrading the online deals site to Neutral from Buy.

Lifepoint Health Inc. (NASDAQ: LPNT) was started as Buy and was added on to the Conviction Buy list with a $92 price target (versus a $73.39 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is almost $81, and the street’s highest analyst target is $94.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was started as Market Perform with a $42.00 price target (versus a $35.65 close) at FBR. Stratasys has a consensus analyst target of about $46.00, and it was recently given upside of almost 50% in a competing analyst call.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was started as Buy with a $34 price target (versus a $30.11 close) at Goldman Sachs. The stock was recently highlighted as potentially bringing up merger interest ahead, which follows many such rumors of years past. The consensus price target is $31.64, and the highest analyst price target is $35.00.

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The following are the additional top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday:

Adeptus Health Inc. (NASDAQ: ADPT) was started as Buy with a price target of $88 (versus a $76.48 close) at Goldman Sachs.

AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

AmSurg Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSG) was started as Buy with a price target of $81 (versus a $68.51 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Bazaarvoice Inc. (NASDAQ: BV) was raised to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley with an $8.50 price target (versus a $5.78 close). This is ahead of next week’s earnings report, and after Needham started it with a Buy rating a week earlier.

Chubb Corp. (NYSE: CB) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: CFG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stock Picks Called to Rise 50% to 100%

Denny’s Corp. (NASDAQ: DENN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $14 price target (versus a $10.57 close) at Wedbush.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $34 price target (versus a $27.46 close) at Stifel.

ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) was started as Market Perform with a $13.00 price target (versus a $12.89 close) at FBR. ExOne has a consensus target of almost $18.

8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at B. Riley.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) was reiterated as Neutral with a fair value target of $40 (versus a $38.59 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was started as Overweight at Atlantic Equities.

Team Health Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TMH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $68 price target at Goldman Sachs.

Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS) was started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Virtus Investment Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

ALSO READ: Is There a New Greek Bank Nationalization Risk?

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Twitter, Whiting Petroleum, Groupon, Goldman Sachs BDC, AT&T and over a dozen more.

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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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