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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Blackstone, Chevron, Diamond Offshore, Palo Alto, Symantec, Total and More
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Stocks were trying to make another gap up run higher on Friday, similar to Thursday. The Dow and S&P are fighting to see if the three-week rally can be four weeks. The S&P is challenging 2,000 and the DJIA is challenging 17,000 again. Investors now find themselves in a dilemma of trust: do they sell the rallies like in the first six weeks of 2016, or do they buy the dips like they did for more than four years?
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Friday, March 11, 2016.
Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $28 from $30 (versus a $27.37 prior close) at Deutsche Bank. Blackstone has a consensus analyst price target of $33.89 and a 52-week trading range of $22.31 to $44.43.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $94 price target (from a $78 prior target and versus a $93.94 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus analyst target is $95.80 and the 52-week range is of $69.58 to $112.20. Chevron did commit to maintaining and growing its dividend despite lower capex and despite lower energy profits.
24/7 Wall St.Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and the price target was raised to $19 from $16.50 at Piper Jaffray. Diamond Offshore was also raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was raised to $24 from $18 at Goldman Sachs.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW) was started as Outperform with a $200 price target (versus a $150.75 close) at Bernstein. It has a consensus analyst target of $192.86 and a 52-week range of $111.09 to $200.55.
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $23 price target (versus a $17.70 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Symantec has a consensus analyst price target of $22.33 and a 52-week range of $16.14 to $26.16.
Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs. The stock closed down 1.8% at $45.69, has a consensus analyst target of $52.83 and has a 52-week range of $39.05 to $54.79.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Friday included of the following:
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with an $81 price target (versus a $58.09 close) at JPMorgan.
Cancer Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: CGIX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $4.50 fair value estimate (versus a $2.67 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Franco-Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV) was started as Neutral with a $58 price target (versus a $60.56 close) at Credit Suisse.
National Health Investors Inc. (NYSE: NHI) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
NGL Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: NGL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $6 price target (versus an $8.33 close) at Goldman Sachs.
ServiceMaster Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SERV) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $42 price target (versus a prior $45 target and a $38.66 close) at R.W. Baird.
Spirit Realty Capital Inc. (NYSE: SRC) was raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
Trovagene Inc. (NASDAQ: TROV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the fair value estimate was $8.00 (versus a $6.05 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Western Gas Equity Partners L.P. (NYSE: WGP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $34 price target (versus a $31.28 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included DepoMed, Enterprise Products, Expedia, Netflix, Sunrun, Vale and roughly a dozen other companies.
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