After a rough two days of trading to mark the start of the week, investors will be watching closely to see if Wall Street heads down for a third straight day. The futures look modestly higher early on Wednesday, and with a stampeded of earnings right around the corner starting next week, it could be that traders will remain in a wait-and-see mode.
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 Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as a Buy at UBS, which raised the price target to $880 from $875. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $926.27. The 52-week trading range is $529 to $810.35. The shares closed most recently at $758.57, down 6.5% on the day.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was started at a Strong Buy at Needham with price target of $150. The consensus price target is $134.21, which is within the 52-week trading range of $92.00 to $134.54. The stock closed on Tuesday at $109.81.
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Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. The consensus price objective is posted at $79.21, and the 52 week range is $65.50 to $81.39. Shares closed Tuesday at $79.90.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee. The consensus price target for the stock is posted at $19.43 and the 52-week range is $13.84 to $21.93. The shares closed Tuesday at $16.44.
Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) was reiterated as a Buy and added to the Focus List at Credit Suisse. The price target was boosted to $86 from $82, while the consensus price target is set at $77.18.
Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy on valuation at Stifel. The consensus price target is $33.35, and the 52 week range is $19.45 to $34.75. The stock closed Tuesday at $33.08.
NVIDIA Inc. (NASDAQ: NVDA) had a slew of Wall Street firms making changes following the company’s analysts day. Stifel downgraded the stock to Hold. Topeka Capital Markets raised the price target to $36 from $32. Needham also raises the price target, from $34 to $38. The 52-week trading range is $19.09 to $36.64, while the consensus price objective is $33.76. Shares closed above that level on Tuesday at $35.75 and were trading down modestly in Wednesday’s premarket.
Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC) was maintained as Overweight at Piper Jaffray, which raised its price target on the stock from $37 to $42. The consensus price target is $36.92. The 52-week trading range is $22.72 to $35.85, and shares closed Tuesday at $35.34.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was downgraded from Neutral to Buy at Guggenheim. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $44.50 to $58.87, and the consensus price objective is $55.68. The stock closed Tuesday at $47.51.
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Other key analysts upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
- Bemis Co. Inc. (NYSE: BMS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
- Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Buckingham Research, which lowered its price target to $95 from $100, versus a consensus target of $98.26.
- IronWood Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen.
- Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Sterne Agee.
- Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMCA) was started at a Buy at Merrill Lynch with a price target of $49. The consensus price target is $46.18.
- Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (NASDAQ: SIMO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann.
- Tronox Inc. (NASDAQ: TROX) was downgraded to Sell at UBS. Shares were down over 7% in Wednesday’s premarket.
- Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TKAI) was started as Buy at Merrill Lynch with a price target of $16, as compared to a monster consensus target of $29.33 and a prior close of $5.85.
If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included AT&T, Capital One, Cisco, Concho Resources, Novartis, Starbucks and more.
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