Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Applied Materials, Kinder Morgan, Las Vegas Sands, ONEOK, Pandora, Wells Fargo and More

Investing

Published: October 4, 2016 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:50 am

Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Tuesday after a small market loss on Monday. This is still the start of the fourth quarter, and next week we will start seeing the third-quarter earnings reports. Investors may have been thrown many hurdles and worries of late, but they have proven time after time that they will still buy stocks after any real weakness. Investors also are looking for new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the prized Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs. The firm also has a price target of $33. Shares closed most recently at $29.92 and were last seen up 0.5% at $30.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $14.92 to $31.07 and a consensus analyst price target of $33.50.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $24 price target (versus a $23.01 prior close) at Stifel. The consensus price target is $23.67, and the 52-week range is $11.20 to $32.89.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $63 price objective (versus a $58.87 close) at Merrill Lynch. The consensus price target is down at $53.00, and the 52-week range is $34.88 to $59.50.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) was reiterated as Buy but was added to the prized Conviction Buy list, and the price target was raised to $19 from $17, at Goldman Sachs. The 52-week range is $7.10 to $22.20, and the consensus price target is $15.28. Shares closed down 1.2% at $14.16 on Monday but were indicated up over 3% at $14.65 on Tuesday.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, with this call being after Illinois followed California with a financial relationship suspension. Wells Fargo closed down 1% at $43.83 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $43.56 to $56.34. The consensus price target is $50.71.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $50 price target (versus a $51.11 close) at Morgan Stanley. The 52-week range is $18.84 to $51.72. The consensus price target is $45.67.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $12 price target (versus a $12.47 close) at Barclays.

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) was started as Buy with a $12 price target at D.A. Davidson.

Cabela’s Inc. (NYSE: CAB) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $64 price target at Barclays. Shares closed up 15% at $63.18 after news that it is being acquired by Bass Pro Shops.

Columbia Pipeline Partners L.P. (NYSE: CPPL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Depomed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $27 price target at Mizuho. The stock closed up 2.4% at $25.58 on Monday.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $21 price target (versus a $20.35 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

GrubHub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $45 price target at Stifel.

Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $16 price target (versus a $15.70 close) at Jefferies.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $16 price target (versus a $13.63 close) at Deutsche Bank.

PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $37 from $33 (versus a $30.95) at Morgan Stanley.

Reinsurance Group of America Inc. (NYSE: RGA) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $108 price target (versus a $107.30 close) at JPMorgan.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) was started as Buy with a $90 price target (versus a $78.93 close) at Argus.

Monday’s top analyst calls were in AK Steel, Carnival, Great Plains Energy, National Oilwell Varco, Teradata and many more companies.

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