Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: First Data, GE, Sarepta, Western Digital, Walgreens, Zillow and More

Investing

Published: June 7, 2016 8:50 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 7:07 am

Stocks were indicated to open higher yet again on Tuesday. Despite Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen saying rate hikes would come, investors currently believe that the weak payrolls report from last Friday took a June rate hike off of the table — and perhaps for longer. Those same investors have proven over and over that they will buy the stock market on dips and buy after bad news.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these 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:

First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) was started with an Outperform rating and was given a $15 price target (versus a $12.66 prior close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. It has a consensus analyst price target of $16.20 and a 52-week trading range of $8.37 to $17.99.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was started with a Market Perform rating and was given a $29 price target (versus a $30.12 close) at Cowen. The consensus price target is $32.79, and the 52-week range is $19.37 to $32.05.

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was indicated up 30% at $20.95 after a compromise was reached for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug, and ratings are all over the place. Sarepta was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $36 price target (versus a $16.05 close) at Wedbush Securities. Janney maintained a Neutral rating but raised its target to $25 from $18. Jefferies maintained its Underperform rating and $7 target. The consensus price target is $19.23, and the 52-week range is $8.00 to $41.97.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $53 price target (versus a $48.02 close) at Mizuho Securities. It has a consensus price target of $58.29 and a 52-week range of $34.99 to $94.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) was started with a Buy rating and was given $94 price target (versus a $78.66 close) at Merrill Lynch. The consensus analyst target is $94.29. The 52-week range is $71.50 to $97.30.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $32 from $20 (versus a $30.78 close) at Barclays. Its consensus price target is $29.80, and the 52-week range is $16.45 to $35.47.

You can follow @JonOgg if you wish to get analyst upgrades and downgrades directly on your Twitter feed.

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

Acacia Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) was started as Buy with a $48 price target (versus a $35.90 close) at Needham.

Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $41 price target (versus a $41.23 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Axovant Sciences Ltd. (NYSE: AXON) was started as Outperform with a $22 price target (versus a $13.15 close) at Leerink.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was started as Buy with a $60 price target (versus a $47.07 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

CoreSite Realty Corp. (NYSE: COR) was started as Buy with a $92 price target (versus an $80.44 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was started as Neutral with an $82 price target (versus a $76.00 close) at Merrill Lynch.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) was started as Outperform with a $70 price target (versus a $55.24 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was started as Buy with a $21 price target (versus a $13.96 close) at KLR Group.

MINDBODY Inc. (NASDAQ: MB) was started as Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $13.76 close) at Imperial Capital.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: NCLH) was started as Buy with a $60 price target (versus a $45.40 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

Oncobiologics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ONSIU) was started as Buy at Jefferies, and the price target was set at $7 (versus a $5.11 close). Jefferies sees this as a platform story with a pipeline of large opportunity biosimilars.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $41 price objective (versus a $45.30 close) at Merrill Lynch.

PharMerica Corp. (NYSE: PMC) was started as Buy with a $32 price target (versus a $25.81 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Relypsa Inc. (NASDAQ: RLYP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $9 price target (versus a $20.25 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was started as Neutral with an $83 price target (versus a $76.19 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

SouFun Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: SFUN) was started as Hold at Brean Capital.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at BB&T Capital Markets.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Ciena, Delphi Automotive, Harley-Davidson, Regions Financial, Wal-Mart, Weatherford International and over a dozen more.

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