Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Accenture, Cognizant Tech, Fitbit, Oracle, Seagate, Vodafone and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: July 12, 2016 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:50 am

Despite the calls for “sell in May and go away” earlier in the year and despite the Brexit and other woes, the stock market has hit new highs. That requires real money going into the markets. What needs to be recognized is that investors are now more willing than ever to buy their favorite stocks after every major sell-off.

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

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

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $129 price target (versus a $115.46 prior close) at Pacific Crest. It has a consensus analyst price target of $123.33 and a 52-week trading range of $88.43 to $120.78.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was started with an Overweight rating and was assigned a $69 price target (versus a $58.44 close) at Pacific Crest. The consensus price target is $69.33, and the 52-week range is $51.22 to $69.80.

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was started with a Market Perform rating at Wells Fargo. Shares closed up 1.86% at $13.68 on Monday and were indicated down 0.8% at $13.58 on Tuesday. Fitbit has a consensus price target of $21.75 and has a 52-week range of $11.65 to $51.90.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $47 price target (versus a $40.78 close) at BMO Capital Markets. The consensus price target is $44.00. The 52-week range is $33.13 to $42.00.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $27 from $20 (versus a $24.09 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a consensus price target of $23.58 and a 52-week range of $18.42 to $52.88.

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup. Vodafone’s American depositary shares closed up 1.6% at $30.46, and they were indicated down 0.7% at $30.23 on Tuesday morning. The consensus price target is $38.23, and the 52-week range is $27.92 to $38.43.

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Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) was started with a Hold rating at Argus.

ClubCorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: MYCC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.

Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $52 price target (versus a $51.18 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is $50.78, and the 52-week range is $28.86 to $51.37.

EPAM Systems Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) was started with an Overweight rating and was given a $77 price target (versus a $65.92 close) at Pacific Crest.

Imperva Inc. (NYSE: IMPV) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, and the $43 price target compares with a $48.14 prior close.

Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) was started with a Sector Weight at Pacific Crest.

Moneygram International Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with an $8 price target (versus a $7.09 close) at JPMorgan.

Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: PMT) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) was downgraded to Market Perform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Red Lion Hotels Corp. (NYSE: RLH) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned an $11 price target (versus a $7.53 close) at B. Riley.

Spark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCE) was started with an Outperform rating and was given a $70 price target (versus a $54.47 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Swift Transportation Co. (NYSE: SWFT) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

TearLab Corp. (NASDAQ: TEAR) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $2 price target (versus a $0.62 close) at Rodman & Renshaw.