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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Celgene, Cypress Semi, Intuit, KemPharm, Oasis Petroleum, Rio Tinto, Shake Shack and More
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Stocks were up earlier this week, but fresh warnings that a North Korea summit might not actually happen in June weighed on the indexes on Wednesday. The trend of buying the dips has not worked as well as it has in prior years, and many investors have been considering how they want their investments positioned for the longer term.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
Additional color and commentary have been added on most of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.
These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Wednesday, May 23, 2018.
Ameren Corp. (NYSE: AEE) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $61 price target at Goldman Sachs in a late-Tuesday call.
Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, with the independent research firm citing increasing risks ahead. Shares closed up 2.5% at $76.61 on Tuesday and were indicated up 1.1% at $77.45 on Wednesday. The consensus target price is almost $114, and the 52-week range is $74.13 to $147.17.
Cesca Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: KOOL) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $1.50 price target (versus a $0.54 prior close) at H.C. Wainwright. It should be noted that Cesca Therapeutics just raised $5.5 million in a public share offering, and H.C. Wainwright acted as the exclusive placement agent for that offering.
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) was started as Outperform with a $21 price target (versus a $16.31 close) at Cowen. The 52-week range is $12.50 to $18.87, and the consensus target price is $20.15.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was started as Outperform with a $170 price target (versus a $147.88 close) at Evercore ISI.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $160 price target (versus a $190.54 close) at First Analysis. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating but raised its target price to $215 from $195.
KemPharm Inc. (NASDAQ: KMPH) was started as Buy with a $17 fair value estimate (versus a $6.10 close) at Janney. The firm sees KemPharm as expecting value creating events coming soon from its efforts to develop a prodrug version of d-methylphenidate for treating ADHD.
Oasis Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OAS) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $19 target price (versus a $12.52 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) was started as Buy at Argus.
24/7 Wall St.Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC.
Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Longbow. The stock closed down 1.75% at $57.96 on Tuesday, and shares were indicated down 1.7% more at $56.94 ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell.
Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) was started as Buy and assigned a $37 price target (versus a $29.10 close) at Jefferies. It has a consensus analyst target of almost $36 and a 52-week trading range of $13.10 to $37.85.
VolitionRx Ltd. (NASDAQ: VNRX) was started as Outperform and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $2.24 close) at Oppenheimer. This is after a 3.5% drop to $2.24 on Tuesday.
Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $71 target price (versus a $50.48 close) at Morgan Stanley.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included DocuSign, Embraer, Goodyear, Macy’s, Micron Technologies, Raytheon, Smartsheet and more.
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