Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Agilent, AT&T, Halcon Resources, HP, International Paper, Seagate, Snap and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: July 13, 2017 9:05 am

Last Updated: March 20, 2020 11:10 am

Stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday after Fed Chair Janet Yellen signaled that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) may be close to having rates at a normalized level and reconfirming that the unwinding of the more than 44.4 trillion balance sheet would be gradual and controlled. Thursday’s market indications were indicated to open slightly higher, and even with a bull market of more than eight years, it keeps being demonstrated that investors will buy stocks on any pullback or sell-off. Those same investors also continue to search for new investing and trading ideas.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy. Other reports 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 also has been added on most of the daily analyst calls.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Thursday, July 13, 2017.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. Shares closed up 1.56% at $60.73 on Wednesday, and the stock has a 52-week trading range of $42.92 to $61.15, as well as a consensus analyst target price of $64.61.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $39 price objective (versus a $36.83 prior close) at Merrill Lynch. AT&T shares were indicated down 0.6% at $36.63. They have a 52-week range of $36.10 to $43.50 and a consensus price target of $40.73.

Halcon Resources Corp. (NYSE: HK) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with an $8 price target (versus a $6.37 close) at Barclays. Halcon recently saw its shares surge by almost 50% on a huge asset sale, but it gave back 5.6% on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $3.69 to $15.86, and the consensus price target is $8.83.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was started with a Neutral rating and given a $20 price target (versus an $18.04 close) at Susquehanna Financial. HP has a 52-week range of $13.55 to $19.58 and a consensus price target of $20.74.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $64 price target (versus a $57.21 close) at Goldman Sachs. The 52-week range is $43.55 to $58.86, and the consensus price target is $58.50.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. Seagate closed up 2.5% at $39.70 on Wednesday and was indicated down 4% at $38.10 on Thursday. Shares have a 52-week range of $28.30 to $50.96 and a consensus price target of $46.40.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) has seen its share of downgrades and it has broken under its IPO price. Stifel now sees value and raised Snap shares to Buy from Hold, and the price target was set at $22 per share. Snap closed down 1.5% at $15.24 on Wednesday but was indicated up 3% at $15.70 on Thursday. Its IPO was at $17 and it has a post-IPO range of $15.21 to $29.44. The consensus analyst target is a bit controversial because it has such a wide range of targets ($9 on the low side and about $30 on the high side), but the consensus estimate is roughly $20 now.

Merrill Lynch has released its top internet stocks for the second half of 2017, ahead of earnings season.

You can follow @Jonogg on Twitter if you want the daily analyst calls and other research notes directly on your feed.

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

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was started as Buy with a $309 price target (versus a $260.27 close) at Argus.

Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $38 price target (versus a $29.62 close) at JPMorgan.

Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE: ETE) was started as Buy and the price target was set at $20 (versus a $17.92 close) at Stifel. The 52-week range is $13.77 to $20.05, and the consensus target price is $21.26.

Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $50 price target (versus a $42.72 close) at Raymond James.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $70 price target (versus a $65.87 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Infinity Property & Casualty Corp. (NASDAQ: IPCC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $105 price target (versus a $92.55 close) at Raymond James.

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Novadaq Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: NVDQ) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, and it was also downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities.

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE: MTD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $111 price target (versus a $111.84 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $52 price target (versus a $44.86 close) at Raymond James.

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price target was raised to $22 from $15 at Wedbush Securities, but the price target is under the $24.39 closing price. This call was ahead of the upcoming earnings release. The firm remains unconvinced about Pulte’s strategy of re-levering the balance sheet and accelerating land purchases, but it also sees no new catalyst for the prior negative rating.

RCM Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RCMT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $4.99 close) at Benchmark.

RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $45 from $33 (versus a $36.30 close) at Oppenheimer. The firm noted that RingCentral is becoming a nifty growth business that is attractive to investors over the long haul.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE: QSR) was started with a Buy rating and given a $73 price target (versus a $61.08 close) at Instinet.

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp. (NYSE: WAB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Stifel has five semiconductor stocks that are very attractive for gains after a recent pullback.

Jefferies sees great value now in four master limited partnerships for energy infrastructure investors looking for big yields and gains.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in Anthem, Apple, Harley-Davidson, IBM, Kimberly-Clark, Marathon Oil, Netflix, NVIDIA, Peabody Energy and many more.