Investing
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apollo Global, ADM, Celgene, Total, Whole Foods, Targa Resources and More
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Stocks were indicated higher on Thursday after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time in seven years and engaged in more aggressive quantitative easing than expected. Despite days of recent selling, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was only down about 300 points from its high and many stocks are still rallying. The biggest issue is that investors 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 to avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday morning:
Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $19 price target (versus a $17.61 prior close) at Oppenheimer. Keefe Bruyette & Woods also raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $54 price target (versus a $43.93 close) at Argus. ADM has a 52-week trading range of $29.86 to $48.47 and a consensus analyst price target of $44.22.
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $138 price target (versus a $116.14 close) at BTIG. It has a consensus price target of $136.45 and a 52-week range of $92.98 to $133.50.
HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HSBC) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch. Its American depositary shares closed at $33.70, and their 52-week range is $28.62 to $45.89.
Total S.A. (NYSE: TOT) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) was already rated as Outperform with a $40 price target at Credit Suisse, but the organic and natural foods giant was added to the U.S. Focus List. The 52-week range is $28.07 to $35.58.
Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $43 price target (versus a $38.51 close) at Stifel. The 52-week range is $14.55 to $78.67, and the consensus price target is $44.44.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgraded from this Thursday were seen as follows:
Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $47 price target (versus a $36.72 close) at B. Riley.
Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $88 price target (versus a $65.66 close) at Citigroup.
Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ: EXPD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.
Innospec Inc. (NASDAQ: IOSP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Monness Crespi & Hardt.
Inovalon Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: INOV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. William Blair downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.
RealPage Inc. (NASDAQ: RP) was reinstated as Underperform with a $21 target price at Credit Suisse.
Saia Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel.
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (NYSE: SMG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $85 from $70 (versus a $78.03 close) at JPMorgan.
Sangamo BioSciences Inc. (NASDAQ: SGMO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.
Sovran Self Storage Inc. (NYSE: SSS) was downgraded to Underweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $59 price target (versus a $39.53 close) at Raymond James.
Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird.
Taylor Morrison Home Corp. (NYSE: TMHC) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
Urban Edge Properties (NYSE: UE) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm raised its target to $28.
Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Biogen, Discovery Communications, Mosaic, Plains All American, Phillips 66, Rubicon Project and about a dozen more.
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