Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Albermarle, Chevron, CVS, PepsiCo, Roku, United Continental, VMware, Zafgen and More

Investing

Published: July 3, 2018 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 9:32 pm

Stocks were looking for a higher open on Tuesday, with this day being a shortened one ahead of the July 4th holiday. The prior trend of buying the dips has not worked as well in recent months as it had in prior years. Many investors have been considering how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and also 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 investing and trading ideas. 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 Tuesday, July 3, 2018.

Albermarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $125 price target (versus a $93.48 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a 52-week range of $86.75 to $144.99 and a consensus target price of $127.80.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $1,900 from $1,750 (versus a $1,713.78 close) at Argus. The independent research firm sees the fresh PillPack acquisition rattling drug stores and it raised its earnings estimate to $19.80 per share from $16.01 for 2019 (and 2018 to $12.93 from $12.63).

Amedisys Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $97 price objective (versus an $87.74 close) at Merrill Lynch.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $43 price target (versus a $38.36 close) at Deutsche Bank.

AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC) was maintained as Equal Weight but the price target was cut to $88 from $97 at Morgan Stanley.

Autoliv Inc. (NYSE: ALV) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $107 price target (versus a $101.74 close) at UBS.

Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) was maintained as Underweight but the price target was cut to $40 from $55 at Morgan Stanley.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $125 from $140 at Macquarie. Chevron closed down 1.7% at $125.25 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $102.55 to $133.88. The consensus target price is up at $146.18.

CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $80 from $88 at Morgan Stanley.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $53 price target (versus a $49.92 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $31 price target (versus a $16.56 close, after a 3% drop) at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $3.60 to $24.60, and the consensus target price is $23.33.

Epizyme Inc. (NASDAQ: EPZM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $16 from $24 (versus a $13.60 close) at Leerink.

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McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) was maintained as Equal Wight but the price target was cut to $142 from $175 at Morgan Stanley.

MeiraGTx Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: MGTX) was started as Overweight with a $20 price target (versus an $11.58 close) at Barclays.

NetEase Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) was raised to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $116 price target (versus a $109.53 close) at Deutsche Bank. The shares have a 52-week range of $95.94 to $122.51 and a consensus target price of $114.70.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $50 price target (versus a $43.29 close) at Oppenheimer.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $74 price target (versus a $70.92 close) at Deutsche Bank.

ViewRay Inc. (NASDAQ: VRAY) was started as Buy with a $12 price target (versus a $7.12 close) at Jefferies.

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VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) has seen multiple target price changes since the Dell deal was announced on Monday. Raymond James raised its target to $174 from $153, BMO raised its target to $175 from $155, Jefferies raised its target to $185 from $171 and Deutsche Bank raised its target to $190 from $185. VMware shares closed up 10.2% at $162.02 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $85.70 to $165.00.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $82 from $76 at Argus.

Zafgen Inc. (NASDAQ: ZFGN) was started as Overweight with an $18 price target at Piper Jaffray. The stock closed down over 6% at $9.55 on Monday, and it has a 52-week range of $3.21 to $10.25. Its consensus target price was $11.00.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included BlackRock, Capital One, Kroger, Nordstrom, Starbucks and Wells Fargo.

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