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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Biogen, Discovery Communications, Mosaic, Plains All American, Phillips 66, Rubicon Project and More
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The stock market has pulled back from recent highs after several days of selling pressure. Shares were indicated lower by almost 0.2% for the Dow and S&P 500 on Wednesday morning. The one trend that cannot be ignored is that certain stocks are still rallying, and investors now have proven for more than five years that they will buy stocks on every pullback.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday morning:
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) traded up over 9% to $330.11 after reports of a would-be buyout, but the news is indicating a cooling off with bidders and Biogen itself less interested. The stock was reiterated as Buy with a $319 price target at Jefferies. Credit Suisse just has a Neutral rating, but it project potential values of about $370 to $410 in a buyout. Biogen has a consensus target price of $330.11 and a 52-week trading range of $333.60.
Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie. Shares closed up 6.7% at $26.42 the prior day, and the 52-week range is $23.66 to $32.61. The consensus price target is $28.76.
Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. It was up 2.4% at $27.26 after earnings the prior day. The consensus price target is $26.26, and the 52-week range is $22.02 to $45.36.
Plains All American L.P. (NYSE: PAA) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was raised to $26 from $21 (versus a $26.56 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a consensus analyst target of $29.43 and a 52-week range of $14.82 to $39.64.
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $92 price target (versus a $76.15 close) at Cowen. The consensus price target is $84.36. The 52-week range is $69.79 to $94.12.
Rubicon Project Inc. (NYSE: RUBI) was last seen down 29% at $9.62 after reporting a loss for the second quarter and after lowering guidance due to digital ad headwinds. It was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. It was also downgraded to Neutral at a firm called Boenning & Scattergood, and Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded it to Hold from Buy and slashed its target to $14 from $22.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgraded were seen as follows:
American Vanguard Corp. (NYSE: AVD) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $18 price target at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Janney.
Endologix Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup.
EnerNOC Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $60 price target (versus a $67.27 close) at Morgan Stanley. It was also downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ: GLUU) was last seen down 9% at $2.08 after poor guidance. The stock was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland Securities.
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) was raised to Outperform from Underperform with a $96 price target (versus an $87.29 close) at CLSA.
Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE: NMBL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $10 price target (versus a $7.21 close) at BMO Capital Markets.
QEP Resources Inc. (NYSE: QEP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $22 price target of (versus a $17.78 close) at Barclays.
Spectranetics Corp. (NASDAQ: SPNC) was raised to Buy from Sell and the price target was raised to $30 from $10 (versus a $23.09 close) at UBS.
Theravance Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: TBPH) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Its price objective remains at $23 after the value of the pipeline has been reflected in the share price.
Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIL) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned an $18 price target (versus a $9.21 close) at Ladenburg Thalmann.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Barrick Gold, Home Depot, Kroger, Newmont Mining, SolarCity and a dozen or so more companies.
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