Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cliffs, Deere, Lockheed Martin, Micron, Zillow and Many More

Investing

Published: May 31, 2016 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 7:24 am

Stocks have mostly been indicated to open in positive territory in the United States on Tuesday after a three-day weekend. Last week saw handy gains, and oil briefly hit $50 again. It seems that the “Sell in May and go away” mantra did not live up to snuff this year, but that saying really applies to the summer months being down or quiet.

Investors have proved over and over that they will buy the big market dips. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday morning:

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $7 price target (versus a $3.07 prior close) at JPMorgan. It has a consensus analyst price target of $2.86 and a 52-week trading range of $1.20 to $5.83.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $94 price target (versus an $80.50 close) at UBS. Its consensus price target is $76.39, and it has a 52-week range of $70.16 to $98.23.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $260 price target (versus a $240.09 close) at Berenberg. The consensus price target is $243.06, and the 52-week range is $181.91 to $245.37.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $18 from $12 (versus a $12.31 close) at R.W. Baird. The consensus price target is $13.48. The 52-week range is $9.31 to $28.53.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG) was started as Neutral with a $30 price target (versus a $29.18 close) at Mizuho Securities. The 52-week range is $16.45 to $35.47. The consensus price target is $29.79.

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

BRF S.A. (NYSE: BRFS) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) was maintained as a Sector Perform but the price target was raised to $4.00 from $3.25 at RBC Capital Markets.

Intellia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: NTLA) was started as Outperform with a $39 price target at Credit Suisse. It was also started with a Hold rating and $33 price target at Jefferies. Wedbush Securities started it as Outperform with a $38 price target. Intellia’s post-IPO range was $21.00 to $29.80, and its closing price was $29.50.

Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $30 price target (versus a $24.42 close) at Raymond James.

Mazor Robotics Ltd. (NASDAQ: MZOR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee CRT.

MDU Resources Group Inc. (NYSE: MDU) was raised to Buy from Hold with target price of $26 (versus a $22.04 close) at Argus.

Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PTLA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $30 from $33 at Credit Suisse, with the firm saying time to move to the sidelines with an equal risk-reward.

On Deck Capital Inc. (NYSE: ONDK) was started with a Market Perform rating and was assigned a $6 price target (versus a $4.98 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Southwest Gas Corp. (NYSE: SWX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Terex Corp. (NYSE: TEX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, and the price target was cut to $21 from $26 (versus a $20.89 close).

Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $37 price target (versus a $29.09 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

uniQure N.V. (NASDAQ: QURE) was reiterated as Buy with a $40 fair value estimate (versus an $11.99 close) at Janney. The 52-week range is $10.61 to $36.38. The firm sees a move of 50% up or down based on its upcoming hemophilia-B update at the EHA.

Credit Suisse has decided to maintain its neutral stance on equities. The firm is sticking to its year-end targets of 2,150 for the S&P 500 and 3,350 for the Euro Stoxx 50. The firm thinks that China has improved but is unlikely to further improve very much, while global economic numbers are weak. The firm thinks both of its fair value models are close to fair value.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Dollar General, Monsanto, Palo Alto Networks, TG Therapeutics, Ulta Salon, Vivint Solar and over a dozen more.

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