Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Avago, Citigroup, EA, Ford, GM, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and More

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Stocks were indicated lower as it appears that a deal with Greece may be more hope than reality. Still, the trend seen for nearly four years now is that investors have bought every single stock market pullback. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst and brokerage research reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and other calls are about stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was started as Buy with a $163 price target (versus a $141.64 close) at Argus. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $169.82 and a 52-week trading range of $68.71 to $150.50.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a price target of $56.00 (versus a $57.39 close) at Deutsche Bank. Citigroup has a consensus price target of $63.28 and a 52-week range of $46.55 to $57.64.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $80 from $58 (versus a $66.58 close) at Jefferies. EA has a consensus price target $67.13 and a 52-week range of $31.77 to $67.49. This is a new street-high target, as the prior one was $75.00.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was lifted to $19 from $18 (versus a $15.29 close) at Goldman Sachs. Ford has a consensus price target of $17.35 and a 52-week range of $13.26 to $18.12.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $40 from $47 (versus a $36.30 close) at Goldman Sachs. GM has a consensus analyst price target of $42.63 and a 52-week range of $28.82 to $38.99.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $77 from $70 (versus a $69.75 close) at Argus. The consensus price target is $71.74, and the 52-week trading range is $54.26 to $69.82 (with the high just on Tuesday).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target is $206.00 (versus a $218.40 close) at Deutsche Bank. The consensus analyst price target is $42.63, The 52-week range is $161.53 to $218.77.

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

Additional key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen as follows this Wednesday:

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was already rated as Buy and was added to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

Catamaran Corp. (NASDAQ: CTRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $60.00 (versus a $52.53 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust Inc. (NYSE: CORR) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $8 from $7 (versus a $6.07 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a price target cut to $86 from $130 (versus a $80.97 close) at Credit Suisse.

Franco-Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

ALSO READ: Top Oil Sands Picks From Analysts

Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ININ) was started as Buy with a $58 price target (versus a $45.93 close) at Roth Capital.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was started as Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

McCormick & Co. (NYSE: MCK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $93 price target (versus a $80.26 close) at Sanford Bernstein.

MoneyGram International Inc. (NYSE: MGI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $11 at Macquarie.

Paramount Group Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) was started as Neutral with a price target of $19 (versus a $17.60 close) at Mizuho.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Sphere 3D Corp. (NASDAQ: ANY) was started as Buy with an $8 price target (versus a $5.07 close) at Roth Capital.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $35 (versus a $29 prior target and a $28.01 close) at Jefferies.

ALSO READ: Why Analysts Keep Upgrading AT&T Shares Now

In case you missed out on Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Newmont Mining, Vodafone, Yelp, Western Digital, American Airlines and AT&T.

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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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