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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bank of America, Fitbit, Teva Pharma, Disney, Regions Financial, Noble, Sysco and More
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Wednesday is looking like it could bring a down open for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Before thinking it is a huge worry, keep in mind that the market is up massively and has risen daily since the election. Just do not forget that some of the gains in big stocks have been 10% to 20% in the last week, and that is not normal and might mean some overbought selling could be expected at any time, for no reason other than profit taking.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Investors have proven over and over that they are willing and able to buy the sell-offs and dips. Rising bond yields, a Fed wanting to hike rates, high valuations and a huge political upset just do not seem to be in the way. Another point to consider is that this bull market is now closer to eight years old than seven.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday morning:
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $20.16 prior close) at Robert W. Baird. This is after close to a 20% rally in the past week. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $10.99 to $20.20 and a consensus analyst price target of $18.53.
Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was raised to Sector Weight from Underperform with an $8 price target (versus a $9.56 close) at Pacific Crest. It has a 52-week range of $8.32 to $34.68 and a consensus price target of $11.44.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $40 from $69 (versus a $37.60 close) at Jefferies. Morgan Stanley lowered it to Equal Weight from Overweight, and BTIG downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. The 52-week range is $37.25 to $66.55. The consensus analyst target is $63.00.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $112 price target (versus a $97.70 close) at Deutsche Bank. The 52-week range is $86.25 to $120.65, and the consensus price target was last seen at $106.71.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray, but this is after close to a 20% rally in just the past week. The 52-week range is $7.00 to $13.54, and the shares have a consensus price target of $11.47.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:
Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with an $82 price target (versus an $82.15 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Chemours Co. (NYSE: CC) was reiterated as Hold and the price target was raised to $25 from $17 (versus a $22.02 close) at Jefferies.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $21 price target (versus a $25.67 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $42 price target (versus a $32.92 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $73 price target (versus a $75.92 close) at Buckingham Research.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $59.19 close) at D.A. Davidson.
Noble Corp. PLC (NYSE: NE) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $5 price objective (versus a $5.46 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Nordic American Tanker Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) was started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.
Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $55 from $59 (versus a $53.50 close) at Credit Suisse.
Teladoc Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $24 price target (versus a $16.95 close) at Chardan Capital.
One issue that may be taking a toll on Wednesday is that Neel Kashkari of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve is out calling for far higher capital requirements for the larger banks. In some cases, these are crippling capital requirements that would hurt GDP and lending massively.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Abercrombie & Fitch, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, Hertz Global, Home Depot, Wells Fargo and over a dozen more.
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