Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Abbott Labs, AMD, Chesapeake, Intel, PayPal, Target, Weatherford, Whiting Petroleum and Many More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 21, 2017 9:05 am

Last Updated: March 20, 2020 11:07 am

Stocks hit all-time highs yet again this week, but the markets were directionless on Wednesday morning, with the S&P 500 down one point and the Dow up 11 points. The bull market is more than eight years old now, and investors keep proving that any pullback has been a buying opportunity. Those same investors are also looking for new investing and trading ideas for income and gains.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Consensus analyst price target data are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service. Additional color and commentary has also been added on most of the daily analyst calls.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Wednesday, June 21, 2017.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $56 price target (versus a $48.77 prior close) at BTIG. Abbott Labs has a 52-week trading range of $36.76 to $49.30 and a consensus analyst price target of $48.54.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was reiterated as Buy with a $16 price target (versus a $12.64 close) at Jefferies. The firm talked up the Zen Server MPU EPYC and noted that Baidu, Microsoft, DropBox and Bloomberg are all EPYC customers and said that Dell EMC, HP and SuperMicro announced SKUs based on EPYC. AMD has a 52-week range of $4.65 to $15.55 and a consensus target price of $12.66.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie. Chesapeake closed down 1.6% at $4.91 on Tuesday and it has a 52-week range of $3.93 to $8.20. The consensus price target is $6.86.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $38 price target (versus a $34.86 close) at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week range is $30.44 to $38.45 and the consensus analyst target was $39.90.

PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $60 price target at Pacific Crest. PayPal has a 52-week range of $34.00 to $55.14 and a consensus price target of $52.90.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $56 (versus a $50.91 close) at Citigroup. It has a 52-week range of $48.56 to $79.33 and a consensus price target of $58.42.

Weatherford International PLC (NYSE: WFT) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $6 price target (versus a $4.10 close) at Barclays. Weatherford has a 52-week range of $3.69 to $7.09 and a consensus price target of $7.61.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Macquarie. The shares closed down 2.7% at $5.70 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $5.30 to $13.39. The consensus price target is $12.08.

Other key analyst calls were seen in the following:

AON PLC (NYSE: AON) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Janney.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy with a price target of $30 (versus a $33.43 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush Securities.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Douglas Dynamics Inc. (NYSE: PLOW) was dropped from coverage at Oppenheimer.

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EIGR) was assumed with an Outperform rating and a $34 price target (versus a $6.75 prior close) at Wedbush.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $47 from $44 at Oppenheimer.

Lending Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) was started with an Outperform rating at William Blair. The stock closed down 1% at $173.30 on Tuesday.

Virco Manufacturing Corp. (NASDAQ: VIRC) was assumed with an Outperform rating and $6 target price (versus a $5.00 close) at Wedbush.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included American Express, ADP, Goodyear Tire, McDonald’s, National Oilwell Varco, NVIDIA, Vivint Solar and many more.

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