Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, FireEye, MetLife, Micron, Symantec and More

Stocks were indicated higher on Monday morning on hopes that Greece may get a deal done. The one trend which has remained constant over the last three and a half years has been that investors want to buy every single pullback. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst and brokerage research reports each morning of the week to find value and upside or new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and other analyst calls are about stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

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

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $12 price target (versus $11.93 close) at Sterne Agee. Alcoa’s consensus price target is $16.91 and its 52-week range is $11.85 to $17.75.

FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. FireEye has a consensus price target of $50.33 and a 52-week range of $24.81 to $55.33.

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $68.00 (versus $56.23 close) at RBC Capital Markets. MetLife has a consensus target price of $58.67 and a 52-week range of $46.10 to $57.57.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was started as Outperform with a price target of $34.00 at Cowen & Co. Micron was also downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the price target is now $19.00 from $27.00. Micron’s consensus price target was $36.42, and this followed one upgrade and one downgrade last week. Micron’s 52-week range is $23.70 to $36.59.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS. This is ahead of Symantec’s split. Symantec has a consensus price target of $25.64 and a 52-week range of $21.66 to $27.32.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stocks Called to Rise 50% to 100%

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen this Monday were as follows:

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $55.00 price target (versus $52.68 close) at JPMorgan.

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKBA) was started as Market Outperform with a price target of $24.00 (versus $7.99 close) at JMP Securities.

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) was started as Buy with a $16.00 fair value estimate (raised from $15.00 and versus $13.49 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The firm says that Amicus is set to emerge in orphan diseases.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) had a bad week after falling to $11.19 after being at almost $14.00. Now Needham & Co. is starting it as Buy with a $14.00 price target. The consensus price target is $12.90, and Bankrate’s 52-week range is $9.39 to $18.19.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

ALSO READ: 4 Cheap Tech Stocks With Huge Upside Calls

Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $98.00 (versus $80.48 close) at Nomura.

Ignyta, Inc. (NASDAQ: RXDX) was started as Overweight with a $34 price target (versus $16.73 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $17.00 price target (versus $12.89 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ: ONCS) was started as Buy with a price target of $25.00 (versus $6.96 close) at H.C. Wainwright & Co. OncoSec has a 52-week range of $4.00 to $13.20 and a tiny market cap of $103 million.

Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $31.00 price target (versus $28.08 close) at Raymond James.

Radius Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was started as Buy with a price target of $43.00 (versus $37.60 close) at Evercore ISI.

WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $25.00 (versus $21.97 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

ALSO READ: 10 Stocks to Own for the Next Decade

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of BioMarin, BP, Micron, Vonage, Finisar, ConEd, Red Hat and over a dozen more companies.

Are You Ahead, or Behind on Retirement? (sponsor)

If you’re one of the over 4 Million Americans  set to retire this year, you may want to pay attention.

Finding a financial advisor who puts your interest first can be the difference between a rich retirement and barely getting by, and today it’s easier than ever. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three fiduciary financial advisors that serve your area in minutes. Each advisor has been carefully vetted, and must act in your best interests. Start your search now.

Don’t waste another minute; get started right here and help your retirement dreams become a retirement reality.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.

AI Portfolio

Discover Our Top AI Stocks

Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.

You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.