Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Allstate, Autodesk, ConocoPhillips, Frontier, Stratasys, T-Mobile and Many More

Stocks were slightly lower on Tuesday after China put in additional rules that limit certain short-selling activities and on day two of Greece’s stock market reopening. A trend that is nearing four years old now is that investors have literally bought every stock market dip, even if the reason behind each time differs. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $14.00 price target (versus a $9.64 close) at UBS. Alcoa shares have a consensus price target of $14.37 and a 52-week trading range of $9.58 to $17.75.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was downgraded to Neutral after having been on the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs. Allstate was also downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was started as Outperform at William Blair. This is just a day after Credit Suisse added it to both focus lists and shares rose over 5% to $53.30.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. While this removes Oppenheimer’s price target, the consensus price target of $71.15 is still well above the $49.71 current price. ConocoPhillips has a 52-week range of $49.33 to $81.88.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stock Picks in July Called to Double

Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was started as Overweight with a $6.00 price target after a post-earnings run up of 9% to $5.15. Frontier has a consensus price target of $6.58 and a 52-week range of $4.19 to $8.46. Just on Monday, Merrill Lynch showed why the more than 9% dividend yield was safe and may even be raised.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan and the firm has a $42 price target (versus a $28.95 close). Stratasys has a consensus analyst price target of $35.76 and a 52-week range of $28.06 to $130.83.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $49 from $40 (versus a $41.49 close) at Argus. Its shares have a $42.95 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $24.26 to $41.80.

ALSO READ: Apple Chart Woes Bring Up 2012 Concerns Again

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations this Tuesday were seen the following:

Cognex Corp. (NASDAQ: CGNX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a price target of $35 (versus a $44.95 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) was started as Outperform with a price target of $117 (versus a $102.00 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

G-III Apparel Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: GIII) was started as Hold at Brean Capital.

Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE: GIL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and with a $45 price target (versus a $32.22 close) at Credit Suisse.

HealthStream Inc. (NASDAQ: HSTM) was started as Market Perform at Raymond James.

Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMCA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $46 price target (versus a $38.04 close) at Deutsche Bank.

ALSO READ: 7 Analyst Stock Picks Trading Under $10

Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE: MCRN) has seen its quiet period end, and its $16.97 close on Monday compares to a post-IPO range of $16.62 to $21.30. Milacron was started as Buy with a $23 price objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Goldman Sachs started it with a Neutral rating and a $19 price target, and the JPMorgan rating of Neutral came with a $20 price target. Keybanc Capital Markets started it as Overweight with a $22 target. Barclays started it as Overweight with a $25 price target.

Rudolph Technologies Inc. (NYSE: RTEC) was raised to Outperform and the price target was raised to $15.00 from $12.50 (versus a $10.96 close) at Credit Suisse.

Scientific Games Corp. (NASDAQ: SGMS) was maintained as Neutral with a fair value of $11.00 (versus a $15.06 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) was started as Neutral with a $27 price objective at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Deutsche Bank started it as Buy with a $29 target.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was started as Buy with an $88.00 price target (versus a $75.90 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

ALSO READ: 6 Big Cap Analyst Picks With Massive Upside

Virgin America Inc. (NASDAQ: VA) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a $41 price objective (versus a $33.63 close) at Merrill Lynch.

In case you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Arch Coal, Autodesk, CarMax, Coach, Exxon Mobil, Walt Disney, Whiting Petroleum and many more.

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