Stocks were looking for direction on Friday, with mixed results in the major equity index futures this Friday the 13th. Investors have had less faith buying the dips in 2018 than in prior years. Many of those investors also have been concerned about how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and into international trade concerns and for the longer-term into 2019 and beyond.

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 commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets 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 Friday, July 13, 2018.

Acceleron Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: XLRN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $50 price target (versus a $47.11 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. The stock was indicated down 1.5% at $31.75 after the Department of Justice appealed the approval AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was raised to Outperform with a $590 price target (versus a $506.67 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. BlackRock was just included on Thursday among Credit Suisse’s updated Top Picks list of stocks with over 50% in implied upside to its target.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $230 price target (versus a $209.98 close) at BMO Capital Markets. Raymond James downgraded Broadcom to Market Perform from Strong Buy after the CA acquisition as well.

Diageo PLC (NYSE: DEO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Argus started Diageo with a Buy rating and a $168 price target (versus a $147.48 close), with the independent research firm talking up Diageo’s strong brands, its leading position in many spirits categories and a relatively low-cost structure.

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLMD) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $35 price target at Stifel.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $3.75 target price (versus a $3.48 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

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Ingredion Inc. (NASDAQ: INGR) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $95 price target (versus a $110.77 close) at Citigroup.

Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC) was maintained as Buy but was removed from its Action Buy list, and the price target was trimmed to $5.50 from $6.00, at TD Securities.

Monro Inc. (NASDAQ: MNRO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $71 price target (versus a $61.45 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Patterson Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $17 price objective at Merrill Lynch.

Quaker Chemical Corp. (NYSE: KWR) was started as Neutral with a $170 fair value estimate at Janney. Shares were last seen at $160.09.

SM Energy Co. (NYSE: SM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $28 target price (versus a $26.97 close) at B. Riley.

Store Capital Corp. (NYSE: STOR) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Janney in a valuation call, with the firm noting that the stock price came within 2% of its $28 fair value target. Stifel maintained its Buy rating and raised its target to $29 from $26.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Buckingham Research.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VF) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $96 price target (versus an $83.70 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Visteon Corp. (NYSE: VC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $67 from $62 at Argus. The independent research firm sees it holding up against tariffs, with strong e-commerce and unique merchandise.

Wisdom Tree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

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Thursday’s top analyst calls included AbbVie, Amazon.com, Anadarko Petroleum, Broadcom, CA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, ConocoPhillips, General Electric, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, NetApp, Netflix and many more.

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