[cnxvideo id=”625494″ placement=”ros”]Stocks were indicated higher on Thursday morning, following the prior day’s news that the Federal Reserve was holding interest rates flat. Even considering recent market volatility, it is obvious that investors will still buy stocks after any real weakness. Investors are also looking for new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and others feature stocks to sell or avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday morning:
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was reiterated as Buy at Stifel, and the firm raised its price target to $125 from $104. It has a consensus analyst price target of $110.50 and a 52-week trading range of $57.20 to $106.19. The stock was indicated up 1.9% at $108.05 on Thursday morning.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus, based on higher growth prospects. It set an official $935 price target for 12 months, but it also noted that a value for Amazon is in range exceeding $1,000. Amazon has a 52-week range of $474.00 to $790.79 and a consensus price target of $877.20.
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Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) was last seen lower by less than 1% after earnings and guidance contained more softness. Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating but cut its price target to $39 from $41 (versus a $43.11 prior close). Merrill Lynch maintained its Underperform rating on Bed Bath & Beyond.
Puma Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI) was reiterated as Outperform but the price target was raised massively to $111 from $54 at Credit Suisse. The firm’s higher target is based on increased Neratinib expectations. Shares closed up 4.3% at $67.97 on Wednesday and were indicated up another 4.8% at $71.25 on Thursday.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, with the focus being on how it can deploy capital after a recent dividend cut. The 52-week range is $11.77 to $21.85 and the consensus price target is $14.17.
Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) was raised to the Top Pick list with a $41 price target (versus a $33.72 close) at RBC Capital Markets after already having an Outperform rating on top of it.
Delek US Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Grupo Televisa S.A. (NYSE: TV) was raised to Hold from Reduce with a $25 price target (versus a $24.77 close) at HSBC.
Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. (NYSE: HPP) was reiterated as Buy and was added to the Top Picks List at Merrill Lynch. The group attended Merrill Lynch’s 2016 Global Real Estate Conference and the tone remains generally positive.
Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.
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TransDigm Group Inc. (NYSE: TDG) was started as Buy with a $340 price target (versus a $279.71 close) at Jefferies.
Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the price target was lowered to $42 from $53 in the call.
Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in Altria, Barclays, E*Trade, Petrobras, Range Resources, Vale, Etsy, Jabil Circuit and a dozen or so more.
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