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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CIGNA, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Rio Tinto, Tesla, Travelers and Many More

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Last Friday and this Monday saw extremely ugly post-Brexit trading in the stock market. Banking stocks were hit the hardest, as were most companies and sectors tied to Europe. Tuesday’s market indications were for a 1% bounce higher in the Dow and S&P 500. It is important to remember that investors have found a myriad of reasons to buy their favorite stocks after periods of weakness and after major sell-offs.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing ideas and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other analyst reports feature stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

Investors should consider that volatility from outside shocks often creates uncertainty around ratings and price targets. If an analyst just upgraded a rating or target into a sell-off, they often look like silly calls within just a few days. The flip side here is that big sell-offs generally bring up great buying opportunities for those investors who have a shopping list of prices for stocks with a long-term view of a year or more.

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

CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI) was started with a Buy rating at Stifel. CIGNA closed down 4.4% at $122.09 the prior day, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $165.00 and has a 52-week range of $121.87 to $168.36.

Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $50.00 price target (versus $49.97 close) at JPMorgan. Dow Chemical has a consensus analyst price target of $59.24 and has a 52-week range of $35.11 to $57.10.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD), or Dupont, was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $64.00 price target (versus $64.08 close) at JPMorgan. Dupont has a consensus analyst price target of $72.13 and has a 52-week range of $47.11 to $75.72.

Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Rio Tinto closed down 2.6% at $28.01 but was indicated up 4% at $29.20 in early trading. It has a $32.78 consensus analyst price target and has a 52-week range of $21.89 to $42.11.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, thus losing its price target. This is based upon an on ill-timed acquisition bid for SolarCity. Tesla  has a consensus analyst price target of $251.38 and has a 52-week range of $141.05 to $288.65.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $127.00 price objective (versus $110.35 close) at BofA Merrill Lynch. Travelers has a consensus analyst price target of $112.68 and has a 52-week range of $95.21 to $118.28.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades for Monday were in shares of the following companies:

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna.

Autohome Inc. (NYSE: ATHM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was already at a Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm added it to the prized Conviction Buy list.

EnLink Midstream, LLC (NYSE: ENLC) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $16 from $8 (versus $14.85 close) at R.W. Baird.

ENSCO International Plc (NYSE: ESV) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna.

Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $26.00 price target (versus $21.99 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Monogram Residential Trust (MORE) was started with a Hold rating at Canaccord Genuity.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Neurometrix Inc. (NASDAQ: NURO) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $4.50 price target (versus $1.73 close) at Rodman & Renshaw.

Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Och-Ziff Capital Management Group (NYSE: OZM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch.

Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $31.00 price target (versus $21.56 close) at Cowen & Co.

Trimble Navigation Ltd. (NASDAQ: TRMB) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Ahead of and into the Brexit news, analysts issued big upside in 7 picks trading under $10.

Another Casualty was Warren Buffett, with Brexit costing Berkshire Hathaway billions.

On the other side of the Brexit coin, here are 8 stocks winning due to Brexit uncertainty.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Alexion, Barrick Gold, Barclays, Coeur Mining, GW Pharma, SE, AGCO, HSBC, RBS and many more.

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