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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AECOM, Apache, Panera, Sunoco, Wal-Mart and Many More
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Stocks were indicated to open lower after a weaker than expected payrolls report on Friday. The bull market is now more than eight years old, but investors have shown over and over for more than five years that they are willing and able to find a reason to buy every one of the market pullbacks. Those same investors are also still looking for new trading and investing ideas.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Color has been added on many of the following calls, and the consensus analyst price targets referenced are from Thomson Reuters. These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Friday, April 7, 2017:
AECOM (NYSE: ACM) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $40 price target (versus a $35.39 prior close) at Robert W. Baird. It has a 52-week trading range of $26.46 to $40.72 and a consensus analyst target price of $43.50.
Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a price target of $54 (versus a $52.96 close) at Stifel. Apache has a 52-week range of $48.05 to $69.00 and a consensus target price of $61.32.
Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) has seen its shares take usual downgrades, as is customary after a buyout is announced. Panera was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $35 price target (versus a $28.69 close) at Barclays. Sunoco closed up 20% on Thursday and was indicated at $28.75 early Friday. Sunoco’s 52-week range is $21.01 to $37.25. The consensus price target is $28.44.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Telsey Advisory. Wal-Mart has a 52-week range of $62.72 to $75.19, and it has a consensus target price of $74.13.
Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:
Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE: ANET) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $135 price target (versus a $134.40 close) at Instinet.
AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) was downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC.
Enbridge Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: EEP) was started as Neutral and assigned a $20 price target (versus a $19.36 close) at Credit Suisse.
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LW) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $50 from $48 (versus a $43.14 close) at Jefferies.
LogMeIn Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $115 price target (versus a $97.60 close) at Cowen.
Medical Properties Trust Inc. (NYSE: MPW) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $15 from $13 (versus a $13.41 close) at Jefferies.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) was downgraded to Reduce From Hold at HSBC.
Spectra Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: SEP) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $52 price target (versus a $43.74 close) at Credit Suisse.
Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $36 price target (versus a $26.93 close) at JPMorgan.
Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, Panera Bread, SeaWorld, T-Mobile, Walgreens, 8Point3 and many more.
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