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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: First Solar, Ford, Frontier Communications, JPMorgan, Macy's, Yamana Gold and More

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Stocks were indicated to open down again on Wednesday, stoking concerns that the rallies are still just selling opportunities. In the prior four years it was a “buy the dips” mentality.

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

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $84 from $82 (versus a $61.79 prior close, and up over 2% to $63.25 in early indications) at Janney Capital Markets. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating. First Solar has a consensus analyst price target of $74.75 and a 52-week trading range of $40.25 to $72.12.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $13 price target (versus a $12.42 close) at Credit Suisse. The consensus analyst target is $15.82, and the 52-week range is $10.44 to $16.74.


Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was reiterated as Buy with a $6 price target at Jefferies. This call follows a 12.6% gain to $5.08 the prior day, and the stock has a consensus price target of $6.21 and a 52-week range of $3.81 to $8.12.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $67 from $71 (versus a $56.12 close) at Jefferies. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating with a $75 price target. JPMorgan has a consensus price target of $71.67 and a 52-week range of $50.07 to $70.61.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel. Its shares were up 3% at $42.31 the prior day after earnings, and the consensus price target is $43.75. The 52-week range is $34.05 to $73.61.

Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $2.80 from $2.40 (versus a $2.73 close) at Goldman Sachs. Yamana has a consensus analyst target of $3.08 and a 52-week range of $1.38 to $4.32.

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

  • Advisory Board Co. (NASDAQ: ABCO) has seen several downgrades: Stifel cut it to Hold from Buy; Baird cut it to Neutral from Outperform; Avondale cut it to Market Perform; and Cantor Fitzgerald cut it to Hold.
  • ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc. (NYSE: ARR) was downgraded to Reduce from Neutral and the price target was cut to $16 from $23 (versus a $19.65 close) at Nomura.
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley.
  • Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) was raised to Buy from Hold at Wunderlich. Jefferies has a Hold rating but lowered the price target to $11 from $15.
  • PTC Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) was raised to Hold from Underperform but the price target was cut to $12 from $18 at Jefferies. RBC downgraded it to Sector Perform from Outperform.
  • Radius Health Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy but the price target of $37 was maintained (versus a $32.83 close) at Jefferies.
  • Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Annaly Capital, Barrick Gold, Cheniere energy, Fitbit, Dean Foods, Groupon, SolarCity, Twitter, U.S. Steel and a dozen or so more companies.

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