Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baker Hughes, Bank of America, Barrick Gold, BP, Citigroup, JetBlue, Morgan Stanley and More

Investing

Published: December 21, 2016 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:33 pm

Stocks have hit all-time highs, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average remains under 20,000 and the S&P 500 remains under 2,300. With 2016 quickly coming to an end, the undeniable trend since the November 8 election has been a strong market in which investors have been rotating out of bonds and putting off taking profits until 2017 in hopes of lower capital gains taxes ahead.

Investors do not care that this bull market is now almost eight years old. In fact, they buy every single pullback in the market and still have an appetite for more. Those same are looking for new ideas for gains or income.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

With the rally continuing, here is a look at 11 stocks that could help get the Dow to 22,000 by late 2017.

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

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) was reiterated as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm raised its price target up to $73 from $57 (versus a $65.15 prior close) based on being more comfortable with GE Oil & Gas in the mix in 2017.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $25 price target (versus a $22.71 close) at Atlantic Equities.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $18 from $25 (versus a $14.34 close) at TD Securities.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $70 price target (versus a $60.80 close) at Atlantic Equities.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform to Market Perform at Raymond James.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $58 price target (versus a $43.54 close) at Jefferies.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and the price target was raised to $44 from $28 (versus a $43.50 close) at Atlantic Equities.

Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE: NWL) was added to the Franchise Picks List at Jefferies.

Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $17 price target (versus a $16.55 close) at Mizuho.

Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $31 price target (versus a $22.14 close) at Credit Suisse.

New York Community Bancorp (NASDAQ: NYCB) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Wedbush has a Neutral rating and $16 price target, after news that NYCB and Astoria Financial mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement.

Tracon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TCON) was started as Buy at Jefferies with a $10 price target (versus a $4.70 close). The oncology outfit is said to have many 2017 readouts, and the name should be on the radar due to meaningful revenue opportunities ahead according to their report.

Follow @Jonogg on Twitter to see daily analyst upgrades and downgrades and other key research items directly on your own feed.

Merrill Lynch has issued its top 11 stock picks for 2017.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Amgen, American Water, American Express, Celgene, Square and over a dozen more companies.

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