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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: GE, 3M, Shopify, SunPower, Zafgen, CIT, Ericsson, Honeywell and Many More

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Stocks were looking for a small bounce on Thursday after Wednesday’s big sell-off that ended up being less of a big sell-off. Investors have every right to feel jilted in 2016 with every rally having been a selling opportunity. That being said, there is also the reminder that investors successfully bought every dip for over four years prior to the end of 2015.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning of the week. The aim is to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports are on stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

The latest bear case for the Dow ticked down to 14,961 from 15,076 for what could be a theoretical floor versus the prior bullish upside target for Dow 19,700.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst calls.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was started as Buy with a $36 price target (versus a $28.00 prior close) at Citigroup. GE has a consensus target of $32.38 and a 52-week trading range of $19.37 to $31.49. GE has already pulled back far from its bullish and bearish indications for 2016.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was started as Buy with a $166 price target (versus a $136.96 close) at Citigroup. 3M has a consensus analyst target of $159.29 and it has a 52-week range of $134.00 to $170.50. 3M has pulled back about $10 from its bullish and bearish outlook for 2016.


Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was started as Outperform and was assigned a $25 price target (versus a $20.53 close) at Wedbush Securities. Shopify has a consensus analyst target of closer to $35 and a 52-week range of $17.00 to $42.13. The IPO price was $17.00.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) was raised to Buy at Janney Capital Markets, but the firm maintained its fair value estimate of $28 (versus a $21.84 close) in its call. The consensus analyst target is $37.32, and the 52-week range is $18.25 to $35.11.

Zafgen Inc. (NASDAQ: ZFGN) saw its shares rise 78% to $10.04 on exponentially strong volume on Wednesday. Now RBC Capital Markets raised its rating to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its price target massively — to $21 from $7.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) was started as Buy with a $122 price target (versus a $96.24 close) at Citigroup. Honeywell has a consensus analyst target price of $115.05 and a 52-week range of $87.00 to $107.41.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was started as Hold with a $38 price target (versus a $31.38 close) at Deutsche Bank. CIT’s consensus analyst target is all the way up at about $50, and the 52-week range is $30.73 to $49.27.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Price target data on Ericsson was not seen, but at $8.80 on Wednesday’s close, it has a 52-week range of $8.55 to $13.14 and a consensus analyst target of $11.60.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Thursday included the following:
Akebia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AKBA) was started as Neutral with a $10 price target (versus an $8.00 close) at Credit Suisse.

AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) was started as Equal Weight with a price target of $32 (versus a $24.11 close) at Barclays.

Chefs’ Warehouse Inc. (NASDAQ: CHEF) was maintained as Hold but the price target was cut to $18 from $20 at Canaccord Genuity.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS) was started as Outperform with a $32 price target (versus a $22.28 close) at Credit Suisse.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was started as Equal Weight and was given a price target of $70 (versus a $55.08 close) at Barclays.

Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HRC) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.


Ignyta Inc. (NASDAQ: RXDX) was started as Outperform with a $19 price target (versus a $10.10 close) at Credit Suisse.

Michaels Companies Inc. (NYSE: MIK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Oil States International Inc. (NYSE: OIS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $29 from $38 (versus a $25.04 close) at R.W. Baird.

Perrigo Co. (NASDAQ: PRGO) was started as Overweight with a $180 price target (versus a $145.84 close) at Barclays.

ProAssurance Corp. (NYSE: PRA) was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

PFSweb Inc. (NASDAQ: PFSW) was started as Buy with a $16 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Team Health Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TMH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $65 from $80 (versus a $42.47 close) at Jefferies. The firm thinks that low expectations and a reset on valuation make Team Health attractive.

Tesaro Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO) was started as Outperform and was assigned a $72 price target (versus a $37.30 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included AMD, Amazon.com, Celgene, Comerica, Fortinet, Gilead sciences, Lennar, Netflix, Voya, Wayfair and over a dozen more companies.

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