Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Fitbit, Apple, ARM, Groupon, Palo Alto, Pepsi, Windstream and More

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
By Jon C. Ogg Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Stocks were indicated higher on Monday on further hopes for the Greece situation to be approved. Investors just keep proving that they will buy stocks on each and every sell-off, even if the reason to buy is different each time. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst and brokerage reports each morning in order to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) has seen its quiet period end and shares closed at $42.10 on Friday. The digital health monitor maker was started as Buy with a $50 price target at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Morgan Stanley started Fitbit as Equal Weight with a $42 price target, and William Blair assigned a Market Perform rating. Stifel started it as Buy with a $57 price target. Piper Jaffray started Fitbit as Overweight with a $52 price target.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was raised to Buy from Neutral and was given a $140 price target (versus $123.28 close) at Soc-Gen. Recent share weakness and the new iPhone this fall were cited for the strength.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was started as Overweight with a $216 price target (versus $180.80 close) at JPMorgan.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.

Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $5 price target (versus a $5.68 close) at UBS.

ALSO READ: 5 Big Defensive Dividend Stocks on Discount

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from Monday were as follows:

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) was raised to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $12 price target (versus an $11.32 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Celadon Group Inc. (NYSE: CGI) was raised to Strong Buy from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $90 price target (versus a $72.91 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: 6 Oil and Gas Stocks Analyst Want You to Buy Now

Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $16 price objective (versus a $19.28 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Hologic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, and the price target was cut to $48 from $50 (versus a $40.06 close).

Phillips 66 Partners L.P. (NYSE: PSXP) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $105 price target (versus a $114.93 close) at Goldman Sachs.

STMicroelectronics N.V. (NYSE: STM) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy Goldman Sachs.

VOXX International Corp. (NASDAQ: VOXX) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $11 price target (versus a $8.01 close) at B. Riley.

ALSO READ: 5 Fresh Dividend Hikes Too Important to Ignore

In case you missed out on Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of AT&T, Costco, Gap, Intercontinental Exchange, Rackspace, Sprint, Verizon Communications and Weatherford International and over a dozen more.

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
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.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618