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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Alphabet, Apple, Carbonite, Halliburton, Hasbro, Marriott, Salesforce, Square and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: July 24, 2018 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 8:33 pm

Stocks were set to open higher on Tuesday after a mixed Monday. The investing community has dealt with more volatility in 2018 and has frankly had less success with lower rewards from buying the dips in 2018 than in prior years. Many of those same investors are also reconsidering how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and with international trade concerns.

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. 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 Tuesday, July 24, 2018.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was maintained as Buy and the price target was cut to $55 from $70 at Deutsche Bank. The stock was up 2.5% at $41.33 on Monday and was indicated up 2.3% at $42.245 on Tuesday, but Alcoa was roughly at $48 before last week’s earnings report knocked the legs out from under the company.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $1,325 from $1,250 at Morgan Stanley. Barclays reiterated it as Overweight and raised the price target to $41 from $38. Cowen reiterated it as Outperform and raised its target to $1,420 from $1,350. Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Hold rating, while the price target was raised to $1,170 from $1,050.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $232 from $214 (versus a $191.61 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. Apple has a 52-week range of $147.30 to $194.20, and the consensus target price is $202.72.

Carbonite Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) was maintained as Equal Weight but the price target was raised to $41 from $38 (versus a $37.35 close) at Barclays. The 52-week trading range is $18.55 to $41.25, and the consensus price target was last seen at $37.38.

Domo Inc. (NASDAQ: DOMO) was up 3.3% at $19.30 ahead of its quiet period ending, and its shares were indicated up 2.1% more at $19.70 on Tuesday. Credit Suisse started it as Outperform with a $25 target, and Morgan Stanley started it as Overweight with a $28 target. UBS started Domo as Neutral with a $20 target.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was down 8.1% at $41.54 on Monday after disappointing earnings. Citi maintained it as a Buy, but the price target was cut to $51 from $53. Cowen maintained its Market Perform rating but cut its target to $47 from $51.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) closed up almost 13% at $106.04 after strong earnings drove shares on Monday. Barclays reiterated the shares as Overweight and raised the target price to $117 from $100.

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Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) was down 7.2% at $136.26 on Monday after earnings disappointed. The stock was Robert W. Baird maintained it at Neutral but cut the price target to $141 from $155. Merrill Lynch downgraded it to Neutral from Buy, and Citi maintained its Buy rating but cut its target to $166 from $187. Stifel maintained its Hold rating and raised its target to $100 from $94. Goldman Sachs downgraded it to Neutral from Buy.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $115 from $105 (versus a $101.16 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was raised to Buy from Underperform and the price objective was raised to $35 from $24 (versus a $28.38 close) at Merrill Lynch. Shares were last seen trading up almost 4% at $29.50 after this rare two-notch upgrade.

Neuronetics Inc. (NASDAQ: STIM) was started as Buy and assigned a $33 price target (versus a $26.02 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $175 from $160 (versus a $147.56 close) at Stifel.

Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $78 from $57 (versus a $71.60 close) at Deutsche Bank. The 52-week range is $24.22 to $72.21, with that high hit on Monday after two other brokerage firms handily lifted their price targets too. Square was indicated up another 1.5% at $72.65 on Tuesday morning.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price objective was raised to $44 from $41 (versus a $40.15 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Monday’s top analyst calls were included Apple, Biogen, BJ’s Wholesale, ConocoPhillips, Honeywell, Schlumberger, Shopify, Spotify and many more.