Stocks were broadly sold off early Monday, following Friday’s sell-off — and for mostly the same reasons. Shanghai was down another 8.5% on top of Friday’s tank, sending Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down over 500 points.

The trend that had been in place for almost four years is that investors bought every dip to find value. The Dow is now down over 10% for the first time in over three years and the S&P 500 is challenging the 10% decline as well. That “buy the dip” trend has not been the case in this sell-off, but some investors will be looking for places to hide and looking for value.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new trading ideas and investing ideas for its readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations. Even if stocks have analyst upgrades, it is only smart to assume that the share prices are lower rather than higher — major market pressure will outweigh analyst opinions almost every day where there is a huge change in the market.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods with a $20 price target. It has a consensus price target of $19.26 and a 52-week trading range of $14.97 to $18.48. The stock closed down 3.7% at $16.10 on Friday, and shares were indicated around $15.20 or so in early Monday trading.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, although the price objective was cut to $1000 from $104 in the call. Chevron closed at $75.76, and the consensus target price is $104.22, with a 52-week range of $75.71 to $129.53.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was maintained as Buy at Merrill Lynch, but the price objective was lowered to $74 from $85. The firm is now replacing Occidental Petroleum with ConocoPhillips as its top sector pick.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Robert W. Baird, but the firm’s $44 price target was maintained (versus a $43.14 close). The consensus target price is $50.15, and the 52-week range is $40.09 to $53.45.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Telsey Advisory Group, and the price target was raised to $122 from $115 (versus a $106.87 close). Nike’s consensus target is $119.33, and the 52-week range is $78.27 to $117.72.

Vital Therapies Inc. (NASDAQ: VTL) was last seen trading down 80% at $3.41 (versus a $17.68 close) after it said that its Phase 3 trial in alcohol-induced liver decompensation had failed. Vital Therapies was downgraded to Underperform from Buy and the price objective was slashed to $5 from $40 at Merrill Lynch. Canaccord Genuity maintained its Buy rating but lowered its price target to $8 from $35. Credit Suisse cut the rating to Neutral with a $9 price target.

ALSO READ: 5 Defensive High-Yield Stocks to Survive the Sell-Off Carnage

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Monday were seen in the following:

Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $17 target price at Argus.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $865 price objective at Merrill Lynch, based on multiple drivers of higher organic growth.

China Unicom Ltd. (NYSE: CHU) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, but the American depositary share target was cut to $18.30 from $19.40.

Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) was maintained as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the firm lowered its price target to $26 from $32.

ALSO READ: Where Would Warren Buffett Put Money If Markets Collapse?

Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Hibbett Sports Inc. (NASDAQ: HIBB) was maintained as Hold with a $45 price target (versus a $37.37 close). The firm sees its footwear strength being offset by weakness in apparel and equipment.

Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) was started as Neutral with a $49 price target (versus a $42.06 close) at Credit Suisse.

Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC.

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

Scientific Games Corp. (NASDAQ: SGMS) was maintained as Neutral with a fair value target of $11.00 (versus a $10.67 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) was raised to Outperform from Perform with an $85 price target at Oppenheimer, based on its cheap price and clarity on earnings/FFO ahead.

Thoratec Corp. (NASDAQ: THOR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Swann.

Tuesday Morning Corp. (NASDAQ: TUES) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

ALSO READ: 4 Defensive Stocks to Buy for Continued Market Volatility

Veolia Environnement S.A. (NYSE: VE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Salesforce.com, Symantec, Walt Disney and over a dozen more.

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