Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Cheniere, First Solar, Hilton, NOV, Disney and Many More

Stocks traded higher early Wednesday, a show that yet again investors are buyers after every stock market dip. That trend is now almost four years old, although the reason for buying the dip seems to differ each time. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of the analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have already seen some overlap on analyst calls from the top six earnings stocks on the move. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) already has been having key difficulties on a severe stock chart violation, but now we have seen Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrade Apple to Neutral from Buy, and the firm cut its $142 price objective to $130 in the call (versus a $114.64 close).

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT: LNG) was started as Outperform with a $86 price target (versus a $66.34 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm sees all three Cheniere entities as Outperform now. Cheniere has a consensus price target of $85.55 and a 52-week trading range of $58.10 to $85.00.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) managed to blow out earnings expectations and was among the top earnings movers for Wednesday. The solar giant was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $65 from $62 at Cowen.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $28 from $31.50 (versus a $26.16 close) at Goldman Sachs. Evercore ISI raised its rating to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $31 from $30 in its call. Hilton has a $33.45 consensus objective and a 52-week range of $20.72 to $31.60.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, based on the expectations that customers are likely to reduce capital spending during a low-price oil environment that is expected to last 12 to 18 months. The consensus price target is now down to $45.10 (versus a $40.65 closing price) and it has a 52-week range of $40.30 to $86.55.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was down handily after beating earnings. With soft revenues, Bob Iger was less robust in his longer-term views. Now we have seen BMO Capital Markets lower its rating to Market Perform from Outperform and cut the target to $110 from $125. Jefferies downgraded Disney to Hold from Buy with a price target cut to $112 from $125.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stocks Picked to Double

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

Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Evercore ISI.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $56 price target (versus a $43.89 close) at Sanford Bernstein.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a price target of $60.00 (versus a $70.32 close) at Stifel. Shares were indicated down 7% at $65.25 after lowering earnings guidance with earnings.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $34 price target at Wunderlich after beating earnings. Chuy’s closed at $27.83, but it was indicated closer to $30 after the earnings boost.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie, but this was among the top earnings movers with a drop of more than 5% after earnings.

HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan with a price target of $45.00 (versus a $52.98 close).

ALSO READ: 8 Big Stocks Trading Under 10 Times Earnings

InvenSense Inc. (NYSE: INVN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $15 from $18 (versus a $12.86 close) at Northland Securities.

Jive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: JIVE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $4.50 from $7.50 (versus a $4.61 close) at Northland Securities.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) was raised to Hold from Sell at Soc-Gen.

Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $35 price target (versus a $32.53 close) at Sanford Bernstein.

Monro Muffler Brake Inc. (NASDAQ: MNRO) was raised to Buy from Hold at Evercore ISI.

NMI Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NMIH) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $9.50 price target (versus a$7.77 close) at JMP Securities.

Ocular Therapeutix Inc. (NASDAQ: OCUL) was started as Buy and was given a whopping $46.00 price target at Nomura. This represents more than 100% upside from the $22.05 close.

ALSO READ: 3 Potentially Huge Biotech Buyout Candidates

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was maintained as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, but the firm raised its price target to $665 from $570 (versus a $580.94 close, after almost a 5% gain).

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were include Alcoa, Allstate, Autodesk, ConocoPhillips, Frontier Communications, Stratasys, T-Mobile and over a dozen more.

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