Stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday. With the S&P 500 and Dow going positive for the year just at the end of last week, investors now have to wonder if they need to make a change to their bias. So do investors buy the dips or do they sell the rallies?

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

With terrorism back in the news, it is important to consider that the latest rally has the S&P 500 back up to being valued above 17.5 times forward 12 month EPS expectations.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was started as Buy with a $34 price target (versus a $28.41 prior close) at Argus. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $31.22 and a 52-week trading range of $21.51 to $35.72.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) was maintained as Buy with a $23 price target at Jefferies. This call is after a 12% drop to $16.92 after the news of Wal-Mart building its own giant milk plant in the Midwest. Dean Foods has a consensus price target of $20.80 and a 52-week range of $14.56 to $21.17.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $34 from $37 (versus a 6.8% gain to $38.36 the prior day) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is $43.43, and the 52-week range is $29.00 to $54.73.

Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) was started as Overweight with an $85 price target (versus a $69.11 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus analyst target is $91.77. The 52-week range is $55.00 to $133.62.

Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX) was started as Buy with a $42 price target (versus a $33.03 close) at Topeka Capital Markets. The consensus target price is $37.73, and Newfield has a 52-week range of $20.84 to $41.34.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was up only 0.3% at $64.90 ahead of earnings, and shares were indicated down 4.75% at $61.82 on Wednesday morning. Nike was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $74 from $76 at Jefferies. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $68 from $67. The 52-week range is $47.25 to $68.19.

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

• Ashford Hospitality Prime Inc. (NYSE: AHP) was started as Neutral with a fair value estimate of $12 (versus a $10.50 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
• Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT) was started as Neutral and the fair value estimate was $7.50 (versus a $6.09 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
• Chesapeake Lodging Trust (NYSE: CHSP) was started as Neutral with a $26 fair value estimate (versus a $25.84 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
• Methanex Corp. (NASDAQ: MEOH) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $41 from $33 (versus a $35.06 close) at Jefferies.
• Novartis A.G. (NYSE: NVS) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $85 from $98 (versus a $74.39 close) at Leerink.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Amazon.com, Chevron, Monster Beverage, Range Resources, Wayfair, Wynn Resorts, Yahoo and over a dozen more.

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