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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cisco, Dollar General, DreamWorks, Google, Lululemon, Quiksilver and More
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Stocks were trying to stage a rally on Wednesday after several days of weakness. Investors find various reasons to do it but they just keep buying stocks on weakness, a trend that is nearing four years now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of research reports each morning of the week to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid.
These are Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was reiterated as Buy with a $36 price target at Cantor Fitzgerald on the heels of the Cisco Live event this week. Credit Suisse maintained an Underperform rating and $21 price target. Cisco also remained a top pick for the next decade.
Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $86 from $82 at RBC Capital Markets. This is just a day after Raymond James raised its rating to Strong Buy with a $90 target, and Dollar General also showed after earnings why it is a pick to own for the next decade.
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) was started as Sell with a $17 price target (versus a $27.84 close) at CLSA. While this is much more negative than the consensus, the consensus price target is down $5 under the current share price of $22.32.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as Buy with a $675 price target (versus a $542.16 close) at Argus. The call was based around innovations in the Android mobile operating system and its core search service, as well as next-generation products. The consensus price target is $638.30.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) was raised to Buy from Underperform with an $80 price target at CLSA. This is after solid earnings.
Quiksilver Inc. (NYSE: ZQK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson. After earnings, we also wrote about how viability risk is coming into play now.
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If you are worried about a stock market correction now that the DJIA is in the red in 2015, 24/7 Wall St. just showed a quick hit on our 11 ways to protect your portfolio from a summer correction (or crash).
Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations this Wednesday were in shares of the following companies:
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $68 from $62 (versus a $66.03 close) at Societe Generale.
Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) was raised to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie.
Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE: EV) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna.
Ferrellgas Partners L.P. (NYSE: FGP) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
Greif Inc. (NYSE: GEF) was reiterated as Outperform and the valuation range is $48.00 to $50.00 (versus a $38.15 close) at Wells Fargo.
HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was started as Outperform with a $93 price target (versus a $81.32 close) at Wedbush.
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Himax Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a price objective of $8.50 (versus $6.98 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $35 from $37 at Credit Suisse.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $105 (versus a $84.85 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
LendingClub Corp. (NYSE: LC) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $25 price target (versus a $16.97 close) at Stifel.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) was downgraded to Negative from Neutral with a $43 price target (versus a $53.77 close) at Susquehanna.
NVIDIA Inc. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $18 (versus a $21.86 close) at Nomura.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) was started as Outperform with a $60 price target (versus a $51.04 close) at Wedbush.
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In case you missed out on Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, Dollar General, Noble Energy, Oracle and over a dozen other companies.
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