Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Huntington Bancshares, Nucor, Orexigen, SanDisk, Square, VIVUS and Many More

Investing

Published: February 29, 2016 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:35 pm

Stocks were indicated to open lower on Monday morning, but that is after two weeks of a rally. Is it possible that the trend of selling into every rally is migrating back to the buy the dip trend of the prior four years?

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

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, February 29, 2016.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was reiterated as Buy with a $12.50 price target (versus an $8.95 prior close) at Jefferies. The firm noted that Huntington has decent organic growth prospects and that the First Merit merger approval process appears on track, and it said that asset quality is bottoming but remains healthy with less earnings downside ahead.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. shares closed at $39.96. The consensus analyst target is $45.83 and the 52-week trading range is $33.90 to $50.70.

ALSO READ: 6 Top Oil and Gas Stocks Analysts Want You to Buy Now

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $1.00 price target (versus a $0.97 close) at RBC Capital Markets. This is after shares fell 31% on Friday. Orexigen had a consensus price target of $4.83 and a 52-week range of $0.95 to $9.37.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at Pacific Crest. SanDisk closed at $72.08, has a consensus analyst target of $76.33 and has a 52-week range of $44.28 to $87.43.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was started as Sector Weight at Pacific Crest. The consensus analyst target is $13.42 and the post-IPO trading range is $8.06 to $14.78.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform with a $1.00 price target (versus a $1.08 close) at RBC Capital Markets. It was listed as having a consensus price target of over $8, but that is likely changing, with a 52-week trading range of $0.92 to $3.14.

You can follow @Jonogg if you would like the daily analyst calls and other market calls and research directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Monday were seen in the following:
Air Lease Corp. (NYSE: AL) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $36 from $40 at Cowen.

BeiGene Ltd. (NASDAQ: BGNE) saw its quiet period come to an end. The stock was started as Buy with a $33 target at Goldman Sachs, and started as Outperform with a $44 price target at R.W. Baird. Cowen gave it an Outperform rating.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was cut to $105 from $117 at Wedbush Securities.

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $62.00 price target (versus a $61.98 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $70.00 price target (versus an $85.29 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT) was started as Market Perform with a $40.00 price target (versus a $27.49 close) at JPMorgan. Cowen started Editas as Outperform. JMP Securities started it as Outperform with a $40 price target.

Eni SpA (NYSE: E) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.

ALSO READ: The 18 Companies That Will Buy Back the Most Stock in 2016

Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE: NLSN) was started as Buy with a $58.00 price target (versus a $49.75 close) at Jefferies.

E.W. Scripps Co. (NYSE: SSP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Sharps Compliance Corp. (NASDAQ: SMED) was started as Buy with a $9 price target (versus a $5.25 close) at Craig Hallum.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) was started as Buy at Citigroup, after Jefferies raised its rating to Hold from Underperform on Friday.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) was started as Overweight with a $31 price target (versus a $26.91 close) at JPMorgan.

If you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included American Water Works, Autodesk, Kraft Heinz, Palo Alto Networks, Toyota, Vipshop and over a dozen more.

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today. Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.