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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, DuPont, Frontier Communications, HP, HSBC, 3M, Red Hat and Many More

Stocks were handily lower on Tuesday after overseas weakness. There is still a trend for investors to seek value by buying the pullbacks and dips. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new trading and investing ideas. Some of these analyst calls are on stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was started as Buy with a $163 price target (versus a $115.21 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. Apple has a $145.77 consensus analyst price target and a 52-week trading range of $92.00 to $134.54.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), or DuPont, was raised to Buy from Neutral, but the $63 price target was maintained, at Citigroup. DuPont has a $61.06 consensus price target from analysts and a $47.37 to $76.59 range over the past 52 weeks.

Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was started as Sector Perform with a $6.00 price target (versus a $4.94 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Frontier has a consensus price target of $6.58 and a 52-week range of $4.19 to $8.46.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was started as Neutral with a $30.00 price target (versus a $26.44 close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a 52-week range of $24.85 to $41.10 and a consensus price target of $36.88.

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HSBC) was already rated as Buy at Goldman Sachs, but now the bank has been added to the prized Conviction Buy List. HSBC’s American depositary shares (ADSs) closed at $38.46 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $37.47 to $53.44.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was reiterated as Buy with a $180 price target (versus a $140.04 close) at Argus. The call is after the weakness creating a buying opportunity. 3M has a consensus price target of $161.36 and a 52-week range of $130.60 to $170.50.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was reiterated as Outperform with an $84 price target at Credit Suisse. Mizuho Securities reiterated its Buy rating and $88 price target. Red Hat has a consensus analyst price target of $83.30 and a 52-week range of $52.53 to $81.49.

ALSO READ: 9 Analyst Stock Picks Under $10 With Huge Upside Calls

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Monday were also seen in the following:

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Advaxis Inc. (NASDAQ: ADXS) was started as Overweight with a $40.00 price target (versus a $15.99 close) at Barclays.

Antero Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: AM) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $35 price target (versus a $20.88 close) at Credit Suisse.

Cerulean Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: CERU) was started as Overweight with an $8 price target (versus a $5.10 close) at Barclays.

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was started as Outperform with a $33 price target (versus a $27.60 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $123 price target (versus a $114.72 close) at Deutsche Bank.

ALSO READ: 7 Dividend Hikes and Stock Buybacks Too Big to Ignore

Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $71 price target (versus a $63.93 close) at Barclays.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was reiterated as Buy with a price target of $180 (versus a $146.01 close) at Argus.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) was started as Equal Weight with a $60.00 price target (versus a $50.20 close) at Barclays.

KLA-Tencor Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $60 price target (versus a $49.20 close) at Nomura.

Spectranetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SPNC) was started as Buy with a $24.00 price target (versus a $14.80 close) at Benchmark.

Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was reiterated as Overweight with a $163 price target (versus a $119.19 close) at Piper Jaffray. The call is on the heels of a biotech sell-off after Hillary Clinton’s biotech price gouging tweet on Monday.

Virgin America Inc. (NASDAQ: VA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

ALSO READ: 3 Out-of-Favor Tech Stocks With Huge Upside Potential

If you missed out on Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included CyberArk Software, Goldman Sachs, Lululemon Athletica, Micron Technology, Nike, Nokia, SanDisk and over a dozen more companies.

 

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