Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Charles Schwab, Merck, Nokia, Viacom, Waste Management, Windstream and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: October 13, 2016 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:27 am

Stocks were indicated to open lower on Thursday, making the daily and weekly market trends looking lower. It is important to remember that stocks are still pretty close to all-time highs, and investors have not backed down from high valuations. Investors have also bought almost every sell-off in the market time after time. Those same investors are also looking for new ideas to generate gains or income 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 some reports feature stocks to sell or to avoid.

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

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $38 price objective at Merrill Lynch. It has a 52-week trading range of $21.51 to $34.52 and a consensus analyst price target of $33.85.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price objective was raised to $70 from $57 at Merrill Lynch. It has a 52-week range of $47.97 to $64.86 and a consensus price target of $66.47.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) was maintained as Outperform and the euro target implies 46% upside still remaining. This call is after the huge drop seen in Ericsson, and Credit Suisse says those woes may have been company specific. Nokia closed down 5.6% at $5.09 on Wednesday after the Ericsson drop, with a 52-week range of $5.01 to $7.63 and a consensus target price of $6.93.

Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a new $44 price objective at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week range is $30.11 to $53.35, and the consensus price target is $43.78.

Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) was started with a Market Perform rating and assigned a $9.00 price target (versus an $8.36 close) at Cowen. Its 52-week range is $4.75 to $10.46.  As a reminder, Windstream has that 7% yield.

Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $68 from $73 at Wedbush Securities. The firm thinks that the valuation has now outrun the fundamentals and that the rate of volume growth is likely peaking. The 52-week range is $50.36 to $70.50.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Thursday were seen as follows:

AptarGroup Inc. (NYSE: ATR) was started as Hold at Jefferies, noting that the high-quality growth is fairly valued.

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: BW) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) was maintained as Buy but was removed from the Conviction Buy list, with a $67 price target (versus a $50.01 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was started as Neutral with a $34 price target (versus a $31.50 close) at Wedbush.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was started as Neutral with a $15 price target (versus a $15.11 close) at Wedbush.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Gigamon Inc. (NASDAQ: GIMO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

GrubHub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

Laredo Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: LPI) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE: NFG) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, and the firm also added it to the Jefferies Franchise Picks List.

Performance Food Group Co. (NASDAQ: PFGC) was started as Outperform with a $28 price target (versus a $25.10 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Sanchez Energy Corp. (NYSE: SN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Advanced Micro Devices, Corrections Corp., Fortinet, Motorola Solutions, Procter & Gamble, Xilinx and over a dozen more.