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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AIG, Baidu, Chipotle, Dow Chemical, Mallinckrodt, Palo Alto, Tesla, Xilinx and Many More

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Stocks were trying to recover on Wednesday after a serious bout of selling. Investors have noticed in 2016 that most rallies get sold into, but the trend that was in place for over four years was that every rally was bought and gains followed.

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

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst calls.

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair. AIG closed most recently at $55.33 and has a consensus analyst price target of $67.39 and a 52-week trading range of $51.05 to $64.93.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $203 from $219 at Jefferies. Baidu closed at $154.82, and it has a consensus price target of about $214 and a 52-week range of $100.00 to $223.95.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) closed up 0.6% at $475.67 before earnings, but it fell 5.5% to $449.71 afterward in early indications. Jefferies maintained it as Hold but cut its target to $390 from $420. Wells Fargo raised its rating to Outperform and raised its valuation range to $500 $530. Chipotle has a 52-week range of $399.14 to $758.61.


Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) was raised to the Top Pick from an Outperform rating at RBC Capital Markets. Shares closed up 5.75% at $45.03 on Tuesday, and the consensus analyst target price is $55.11. The 52-week range is $35.11 to $57.10.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was started with only a Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs in a big chip sector change. Its target of $31.00 is versus a $29.80 close, and Intel has a consensus target price of $36.54 and a 52-week range of $24.87 to $35.59.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was raised to Buy with a $78 price target at Mizuho. Jefferies also maintained its Buy rating with an $85 price target. The stock closed at $65.71, had a consensus price target of almost $98 before these calls and has a 52-week range of $52.01 to $134.26.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was started as Buy with a $214 price target (versus a $146.03 prior close) at Maxim Group. It has a consensus analyst target price of $209.53 and a 52-week range of $122.15 to $200.55.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was started as Sell with a $165 price target (versus a $182.78 close) at Berenberg. Its consensus analyst target was $276.67 prior to this call, and its 52-week range is $180.23 to $286.65 after hitting that low on Tuesday. Shares fell 7.2% in Tuesday’s market sell-off after Pac-Crest was cautious.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs with a $54 target price (versus a $48.50 close), but the firm removed it from the prized Conviction Buy List.

Follow @JonOgg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls in your Twitter feed each morning.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following on Wednesday:
ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight but the price target was cut to $28 from $32 (versus a $24.94 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was added to the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs with a $22 price target (versus a $17.05 close).

Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE: BMI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W. Baird.

Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOOT) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $15 from $19 at Jefferies.

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas.

Intersil Corp. (NASDAQ: ISIL) was downgraded to Sell from neutral at Citigroup.

Luxottica Group SpA (NYSE: LUX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at BNP Paribas.


LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) was downgraded to Outperform from being a Top Pick at RBC Capital Markets.

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $38 (versus a $43.18 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) was started as Buy with an $80 price target (versus a $66.48 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Spark Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: SPKE) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $22 price target (versus an $18.80 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was started as Sell with a $47 price target (versus a $50.64 close) at Goldman Sachs.

UBS Group A.G. (NYSE: UBS) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Alphabet, Duke Energy, Mattel, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, Southwestern Energy, Twitter and over a dozen more companies.

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