After a solid day on Wednesday, traders may be looking to take some profits as a slew of financial data is coming out, and the start of the heavy parade of earnings reports is right around the corner. Toss in the continued election cycle chatter — Thursday it’s delegate rules under scrutiny — and you have a mixture designed to produce some volatility.
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 Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained at Buy at BTIG research, but the price target was lowered to $130 from $141. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $134.21. The 52-week trading range for the shares is $92 to $134.54, and they closed Wednesday at $110.96.
Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank. The consensus price target is $40.71. The 52-week trading range is $30.07 to $41.78. The shares closed most recently at $33.32.
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Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair. The consensus price target is $38.50 and the 52-week range is $27.22 to $43.45. The shares closed Wednesday at $40.30.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) was maintained at Buy at Stifel, which raised its price target to $189 from $174. The consensus price target was not available. The 52-week trading range is $114.39 to $160.35, and shares closed Wednesday up a big 5.93% to $160.34.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NYSE: CBRL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow. The consensus price objective is $158, and the 52-week trading range is $117.95 to $162.33. The stock closed Wednesday at $152.48
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James. The consensus price target is $28.45, and the 52-week trading range is $22.66 to $28.77. The stock closed at $26.41. EMC is still expected to be acquired by Dell in the second half of 2016.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) was upgraded to Overweight from Sector weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The consensus price target is $32.67, and the 52-week range is $25.50 to $35.30. Shares ended Wednesday at $31.22.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) was maintained at Outperform and the target price was raised to $23 from $20 at BMO Capital. The consensus price target is $17.13, but shares closed at $17.96 on Wednesday.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was resumed at Overweight at JPMorgan with a $38 price target. The consensus price target is posted at $38.47. The 52-week trading range for the stock is $28.25 to $36.46. Shares closed up 5% on Wednesday to $32.93.
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was maintained as Underweight at Morgan Stanley, and the price target was lowered to $16 from $18. That’s versus a consensus price objective of $20.84. The stock has traded between $13.91 and $52.99 in the past year. Shares closed most recently at $17.26.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein and downgraded to Hold From Buy at Jefferies. The 52-week trading range is $38.06 to $54.49, and the consensus price target is $51.70. Shares closed at $53.52 but were down 1.5% in the premarket.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Telsey Advisory Group, and the price target raised from $67 all the way to $112. That compares to a consensus price objective of $85.88. The 52-week trading range is $49.95 to $136.93. Shares closed Wednesday at $89.55 but traded at $94.70 in Thursday’s premarket.
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Other key analysts upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
- Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI) was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at Credit Agricole.
- BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
- Brocade Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Argus.
- Carolina Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: CARO) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.
- Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EIGR) was started at Buy at Jefferies with a $35 price target. The consensus price objective is $37.50.
- TeeKay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
- Valero Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: VLP) was stared at a Buy at Drexel Hamilton with a $60 target. The consensus price target is $58.
- West Corp. (NASDAQ: WSTC) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alphabet, Apple, Duke Energy, Kellogg, NVIDIA, Wells Fargo and more.
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