Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Broadcom, China Life, Crocs, Eli Lilly, Lockheed Martin, Philip Morris, Rio Tinto, Spotify and More

Investing

Published: July 25, 2018 9:09 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 8:27 pm

Stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday morning after a strong Tuesday. Earnings season is in full swing. The investing community has dealt with more volatility in 2018 and frankly has had less success with lower rewards from buying the dips in 2018 than in prior years. Many of those same investors also are reconsidering how they want their investments positioned ahead of the midterm elections and given 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 Wednesday, July 25, 2018.

Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform with a $53 price target (versus a $50.09 prior closing price) at Evercore ISI.

Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $285 price target (versus a $322.90 close) at Macquarie.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was maintained as Overweight but the target price was cut to $260 from $325 (versus a $217.34 close) at KeyBanc Capital markets.

China Life Insurance Co. (NYSE: LFC) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $21 price target (versus a $17.13 close) at Pivotal Research.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $99 price target (versus a $93.35 close) at Berenberg.

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE: GOL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $10 price target (versus a $7.39 close) at Citigroup.

Halcon Resources Corp. (NYSE: HK) was started with a Neutral rating at JPMorgan.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $45 price target (versus a $36.35 close) at Deutsche Bank. Stifel maintained its Hold rating but cut its target to $45 from $50.

Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $33 price target (versus a $37.31 close) at Mizuho.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NYSE: KDP) was started with a Positive rating and assigned a $33 price target at Susquehanna.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $370 price target (versus a $322.57 close) at Cowen. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating but raised its target to $377 from $352. Stifel maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target to $370 from $400.

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Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $91 price target (versus an $83.56 close) at Argus.

PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE: PPG) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $126 price target (versus a $106.05 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $52 price target (versus a $44.99 close) at Buckingham Research.

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Pivotal Research. Spotify shares were down 1.5% at $185.00 on Wednesday morning.

UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) was raised to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with an $82 price target (versus a $73.56 close) at Atlantic Equities. Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $81 from $74.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls were in Alcoa, Alphabet, Apple, Carbonite, Halliburton, Hasbro, Marriott, Salesforce.com, Square and many more.

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