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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Capital One, Energen, Micron, Salesforce.com, United Continental, United Rentals, Viacom and More

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Stocks are up for the year, but Dow and S&P futures were lower ahead of an after the payrolls and unemployment report. Now that the gains have negated the selling pressure of the first few weeks of 2016, investors are forced to decide whether they should be buying the dips or selling into 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 the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen this Friday morning:

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with an $83 price target (versus a $69.31 prior close) at JPMorgan. It has a consensus analyst price target of $81.48 and a 52-week trading range of $58.49 to $92.10.

Energen Corp. (NYSE: EGN) was started as Outperform with a $43 price target at Credit Suisse. The stock closed at $36.59 and has a consensus target price of $37.88 with a 52-week range of $20.76 to $77.12. Energen was called a Permian Basin energy player at a discount.


Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm removed the stock from the U.S. Focus List and Global Focus List. Shares closed at $10.37, within a 52-week range of $9.31 to $29.78.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was started as Overweight with a $95 price target (versus a $73.83 close) at Piper Jaffray. The consensus price target is $88.07, and the 52-week range is $52.60 to $82.90.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The stock closed at $59.86 and has a consensus price target of $73.46 and a 52-week range of $42.17 to $64.95.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. The consensus price target is $60.33. The 52-week range is $41.90 to $105.83.

Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup. It closed at $41.28, has a consensus price target of $47.52 and has a 52-week range of $30.11 to $73.52.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ADMS) was started as Market Outperform and was assigned a $29 price target at JMP Securities. Shares closed most recently at $14.46. The consensus analyst target is $34.57, and the 52-week range is $12.02 to $31.84.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Core-Mark Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: CORE) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $96 from $88 at Jefferies.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $55 from $68 at Deutsche Bank.

Entergy Corp. (NYSE: ETR) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $83 from $78 (versus a $79.28 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (NYSE: FIS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

ING Groep N.V.  (NYSE: ING) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.


Novartis A.G. (NYSE: NVS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, and shares may be at two-year lows on news that a prosecutor has launched an investigation into its Turkish unit.

TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) was removed from the Global Focus List at Credit Suisse.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $28 (versus a $22.68 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was started as Neutral with an $80 price target (versus a $76.84 close) at Piper Jaffray.

If you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Adobe, Best Buy, Fitbit, Home Depot, Lululemon Athletica, Micron Technology and over a dozen others.

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