Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CenturyLink, Gold Fields, Papa John's, Priceline, SolarCity, Tesla, Unisys and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 22, 2016 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:32 am

Despite two days of pre-Brexit gains, stocks were indicated marginally higher again on Wednesday morning. While the reason seems to be different each and every time, investors have found the courage to run out and buy their favorite stocks on every real stock market sell-off for years now. That is even after the S&P 500 peaked at 18 times 2016 expected earnings per share just about two weeks ago.

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 analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others feature stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was started with a Hold rating and was assigned a $28 price target (versus a $28.08 prior close) at Evercore ISI. It has a consensus analyst price target of $29.60 and a 52-week trading range of $21.94 to $32.94.

Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at RBC Capital markets, based on valuation. The stock closed down 4% at $4.08 on Tuesday, and it has a consensus price target of $4.39 and a 52-week range of $2.04 to $4.76.

Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $1,500 price target (versus a $1,343.05 close) at Barclays. The consensus price target is $1,453. The 52-week range is $954.02 to $1,476.52.

SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel after the Tesla acquisition offer. SolarCity shares were still indicated up 14% at $24.16 on Wednesday morning, versus a 52-week range of $16.31 to $61.72.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. After announcing the buyout of SolarCity, Tesla shares were indicated down 11.2% at $195.00. The consensus analyst target is $264.75, and the 52-week range is $141.05 to $286.65.

Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $70 price target (versus a $66.47 close) at Nomura. It has a 52-week range of $44.47 to $79.40 and a consensus price target of $67.60.

Unisys Corp. (NYSE: UIS) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned an $11.00 price target (versus $7.50 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Unisys has a consensus analyst price target of $16.50, but from only a handful of analysts, and it has a 52-week range of $7.04 to $21.20.

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

Alcentra Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: ABDC) was started as Neutral and was assigned a fair value estimate of $15 (versus a $12.13 close) at Janney.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Alcobra Ltd. (NASDAQ: ADHD) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $12 price target (versus a $4.10 close) at Roth Capital.

American Railcar Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: ARII) was started with a Market Perform rating and was given a $40 price target (versus a $39.26 close) at Cowen.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $50 price target (versus a $46.16 close) at Goldman Sachs.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE: IHG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (NASDAQ: LJPC) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $30 price target (versus a $16.80 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Coeur Mining, Laredo Petroleum, Marathon Oil, Nike, Statoil and over a dozen more.