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Top Analysts Upgrades and Downgrades: AT&T, Capital One, Cisco, Novartis, Sprint, Starbucks and More

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After a rather tepid start to the trading week, the futures have turned decidedly lower as Wall Street eyes a second day of selling around the world, especially in Europe. It’s probably no surprise to see some selling after a six-week rally that moved the major indexes back to plus territory, and with earnings season set to start in earnest next week.

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

These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was started at Outperform at Macquarie. The consensus price target for the stock is $38.41. Shares closed above that level on Monday at $39.36.

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week price range for the company, which just announced the purchase of Virgin Airlines, is $58.15 to $87.17. The stock closed Monday at $78.92, down 3.77% for the day.

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $58.49 to $92.10 and closed Monday at $69.83


Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch, but the price target for the stock was raised to $30 from $27. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $28.68, within a 52-week trading range of $22.46 to $29.90. Shares closed most recently at $28.14.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was started with an Outperform rating at Wells Fargo. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $114.49 to $155.68. It closed near that high of the year at $151.47 on Monday.

Novartis A.G. (NYSE: NVS) was started at a rating of Hold at Argus. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $69.90 to $106.84. The shares closed trading Monday at $72.73, up almost 2% on the day.

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN) was started at Buy at Deutsche Bank with a $16 price target. That compares to the consensus price target of $15.77, within a 52-week trading range of $9.29 to $19.13. The shares closed most recently at $12.01, down almost 3.5% on the day.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was started at Outperform at Macquarie. The consensus price target is $7.28. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $2.18 to $5.39. The shares closed Monday at $3.44.

Starbucks Inc. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was started at Buy at Evercore ISI. The consensus price target is $68.26, and the 52-week range is $42.05 to $64.00. The shares closed Monday at $60.25.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Evercore. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $15.43 to $44.90, and the consensus price target is $32.87. The shares closed Monday at $23.34

Other key analysts upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:

  • ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink Partners.
  • Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) was started with a Hold rating at Canaccord Genuity.
  • Epizyme Inc. (NASDAQ: EPZM) was started at Buy at Citigroup.
  • LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA) was downgraded to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • National Storage Affiliates (NYSE: NSA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  • New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE: NEWM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
  • PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan and the price target was lowered to $18 from $21.50. The consensus price target is $19.46.
  • Ruckus Wireless Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) was downgraded to Market Perform at William Blair. This comes on the heels of a $1.5 billion takeover bid from Brocade.

If you missed Mondays top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Express Scripts, Facebook, Gap, Intel, Schlumberger and more.

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