Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Baker Hughes, Halliburton, JC Penney, Palo Alto Networks, Schlumberger, Disney, Wells Fargo and More

Investing

Published: January 18, 2017 9:15 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:46 pm

Stocks have sold off their peak and the Dow 20,000 print remains elusive. Still, stocks were indicated marginally higher on Wednesday, January 18, 2017. There is still a path for a 21,422 DJIA in late 2017 or the start of 2018. What matters now is that the post-election market interest remains and investors want to keep buying pullbacks. Even the notion that the bull market is almost eight years old now and that valuations remain high just have not mattered.

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 research reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have covered today’s analyst calls with color where appropriate, and Thomson Reuters has been used for consensus analyst price target data. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, January 18, 2017:

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) was started as Hold with a $66 price target (versus a $61.90 prior close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. It has a consensus analyst target price of $68.91 and a 52-week trading range of $37.58 to $68.59.

SunTrust also started Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) with a Buy rating and assigned a $72 price target (versus a prior closing price of $55.01). The 52-week range is $27.64 to $56.98, and the consensus target price is $61.00.

Credit Suisse downgraded J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) to Underperform from Neutral. After closing up 2.7% at $6.94, the shares were down 1.1% at $6.86 in early Wednesday indications. The 52-week range was $6.00 to $11.99, and the consensus target price is $10.31.

The BMO Capital Markets downgrade of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) to Underperform from Market Perform came with an $88 price target (versus a $107.97 close). The consensus analyst target is $111.77, and the 52-week range is $86.25 to $109.49.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, with the $53.78 share price having exceeded the firm’s prior $53 price target. The downgrade reflects the rebound in Wells Fargo shares since the November 8 election and includes the prospects for more revenue headwinds as it strives to repair its reputation. The consensus target price is $57.90, and the 52-week range is $43.55 to $58.02.

Jefferies started Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) as Hold with a $153 price target (versus a $138.45 closing price). It has a 52-week range of $111.09 to $165.69 and a consensus target price of $173.06.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $92 price target (versus an $86.43 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. It has a 52-week range of $59.60 to $87.00 and a consensus target price of $95.70.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:

Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp. (NYSE: AP) was started as Neutral with a $16 fair value estimate (versus a $14.30 close) at Janney.
Burlington Stores Inc. (NYSE: BURL) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $118 from $100 (versus a $90.39 close) at Jefferies.
China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LFC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Deckers Outdoor Corp. (NYSE: DECK) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $80 price target (versus a $58.99 close) at Buckingham Research.
Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
New Oriental Education Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $62 price target (versus a $50.11 close) at JPMorgan.
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $70 price target (versus a $79.80 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $20 price target (versus a $17.44 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
RPC Inc. (NYSE: RES) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $25 price target (versus a $21.94 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Scorpio Bulkers Inc. (NYSE: SALT) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $7.50 price target (versus a $6.00 close) at Evercore ISI.
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was reiterated as Hold but the price target was raised to $27 from $23 (versus a $26.20 close) at Jefferies.
TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $38 price target (versus a $31.88 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Express, JPMorgan, Netflix, Nordstrom, Twitter and over a dozen more.

You can follow @Jonogg on Twitter if you would analyst calls and research summaries posted directly to your own feed.

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