Investing

5 Top Stocks Seeing Multiple Analyst Upgrades & Price Hikes

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Stocks have hit all-time highs in recent days, and investors have to keep in mind that the mega-bull market is now nearing 9 years old. There has been a trend that has rewarded investors who are willing to buy every pullback in the last five years. Investors are also looking for new investment and trading ideas to generate gains and income.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. The top analyst calls from early on Thursday included Amazon, Allergan, Borg Warner, Lam Research, Mellanox Technologies, Shake Shack and others. Still, after getting to review these calls later in the day there were five more which saw multiple analyst calls on the day.

We have included consensus data from Thomson Reuters and have linked to the news catalysts for each if investors want to further review the news. Here are five top stocks from Thursday for multiple analyst upgrades and price target hikes.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was hardly changed after seeing strong earnings. At $264.10 on Thursday, its 52-week range is $167.51 to $285.68. The prior consensus analyst target price was $301.39 ahead of earnings but that jumped up to $312.43 on Thursday. Here are some of the price target hikes seen on Thursday:

  • Cowen & Co. to $320 (from $270)
  • Craig Hallum to $330 (from $290)
  • Instinet to $330 (from $300)
  • Jefferies to $320 (from $315)
  • MKM Partners to $307 (from $300)
  • D.A. Davidson to $325 (from $295)
  • RBC Capital Markets to $325 (from $315)
  • Rosenblatt Securities to $340 (from $300)

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) was up big on Wednesday after selling its physician practices unit to UnitedHealth for $4.9 billion. This is a model-changing sale for DaVita, and Raymond James raised its formal rating to Strong Buy from Outperform and rasised its target price to $84 from $65. J.P. Morgan also hiked its target up to $68 from $51. At $67.80 late in the week, DaVita’s new consensus price target jumped to $69.45 from a prior consensus target price of $65.85.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) set its guidance and announced a whopping $15 billion buyback plan at its investor day conference. Wall Street gave the thumbs-up vote, and multiple analysts raised their price targets. Home Depot shares were down 0.8% at $182.22 on Thursday afternoon, and the consensus analyst target price was last seen up at $187.30 after the hikes — versus about $172 a month earlier. Merrill Lynch was the most positive of the larger brokerage firms with a $215 price objective. Other price target hikes were as follows:

  • Citigroup to $213 (from $188)
  • Deutsche Bank to $200 (from $176)
  • Morgan Stanley to $185 (from $175)
  • RBC Capital Markets to $195 (from $186)

ALSO READ: 5 Dow Laggards Could See Huge Gains in 2018

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) had seen a 7% post-earnings gain to $72.70 on Thursday, based upon strong holiday demand and its views for 2018. Lululemon was raised to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity and the target price jumped to $70 from $43. Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $75 from $68. Lululemon’s prior consensus target was closer to $66.00, but by Thursday afternoon the consensus price target had been raised to $73.61. There were more than a dozen price target hikes seen on Thursday, and here is a sample of some of those target hikes:

  • BMO Capital Markets to $64 (from $55)
  • Cowen & Co. to $78 (from $68)
  • Deutsche Bank to $72 (from $68)
  • Instinet to $74 (from $67)
  • Jefferies to $67 (from $60)
  • JPMorgan to $79 (from $73)
  • Morgan Stanley to $69 (from $61)‍​
  • RBC Capital Markets to $77 (from $66)
  • Susquehanna to $85 (from $71)
  • Wells Fargo to $70 (from $60)

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OLLI) was lower on Thursday by almost 4% at $48.95, but this discount and clearance retailer had been up about 10% in less than 5 days. Numerous analysts raised their target prices on Thursday:

  • Jefferies to $59 (from $57)
  • JPMorgan to $61 (from $47)
  • MKM Partners to $46 (from $41)
  • Morgan Stanley to ($48 from $46)
  • RBC Capital Markets to $55 (from $49)

Wednesday’s review covered 6 companies with multiple analyst upgrades and target hikes in shares of AeroVironment, AutoZone, First Solar, HD Supply, and L3 Technologies.

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