Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Comerica, Dynegy, Newfield Exploration, NIKE, Oracle and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 29, 2016 8:57 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:15 am

Tuesday’s bounce was on the heels of two large sell-offs in post-Brexit trading, and shares were up again on Wednesday morning. 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 morning to find new investing ideas and trading ideas for its 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 Wednesday morning:

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA Merrill Lynch. Comerica has a consensus analyst price target of $43.80 and has a range of $30.48 to $52.93 over the last year.

Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) was raised to Buy from Neutral Citigroup, and it was raised to Buy from Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Dynegy closed up almost 9% at $15.93 on Tuesday and was indicated higher on Wednesday. Dynegy has a consensus analyst price target of $23.92 and it has a 52-week range of $7.20 to $30.18.

Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $48 price target (after closing up 6% at $42.85 on Tuesday) at Canaccord Genuity. Newfield has a consensus analyst price target of $45.31 and has a 52-week range of $20.84 to $44.08.

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was down after earnings and guidance was weak around future order growth. NIKE was maintained as a Buy at Jefferies, but they cut their target price to $65 from $67. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but cut its target to $68 from $73, and Credit Suisse kept its Outperform rating but cut the target to $63 from $68. NIKE has a consensus analyst price target of $70.52 and has a 52-week range of $47.25 to $68.19.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $38 price target (versus $39.13 close) at JPMorgan. Oracle has a consensus analyst price target of $43.91 and has a 52-week range of $33.13 to $42.00.

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

AEGON N.V. (NYSE: AEG) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AXL) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $16 price target (versus $13.77 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $86 price target (versus $67.80 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Community Healthcare Trust Inc. (NYSE: CHCT) was reiterated as Buy and the fair value estimate was raised to $22 from $20 at Janney. The firm sees more upside given the Russell 2000 inclusion and its 7.5% yield.

Capital Bank Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CBF) was started as Neutral and was assigned a $33.00 price target (versus $28.52 close) at Credit Suisse.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) was down 19% at $23.83 on Tuesday after it still hasn’t filed financials. It was downgraded to Neutral from Positive and the price target was cut to $24 from $45 (versus $23.83 close) at Susquehanna.

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Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPR) was last seen down 33% at $10.76 on Wednesday after a regulatory setback on its cholesterol-lowering treatment. Esperion was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Franklin Financial Network, Inc. (NYSE: FSB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch.

ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) was started as Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Lannett Co (NYSE: LCI) was started with a Hold rating and $26 price target (versus $23.75 close)at Deutsche Bank.

Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $25 price target (versus $20.07 close) at Stifel.

Proofpoint, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFPT) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $70 price target (versus $58.64 close) at Evercore ISI.

Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) was downgraded to a Neutral rating from Buy at Merrill Lynch. The most recent closing price was $27.99.

Texas Capital BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was lowered to a Neutral rating by Merrill Lynch, after having recently closed at $43.24.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) was downgraded to an Underperform rating from Neutral. The stock last closed at $24.39.

RBC Capital Markets has said that several top biotechs are trading where the pipelines were given no market value at all, a long-term call option or harbinger.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in CIGNA, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Rio Tinto, Tesla, Travelers and a dozen more companies.