Stocks were indicated to open lower on Thursday morning, though the S&P 500 hit an all-time high earlier in the week. Earnings season is all but over now and was quite strong, with more than 70% of the companies exceeding expectations. Despite the gains in the market, 2018 has been choppy, and investors have seen less reward in buying every dip than they had been used to in recent years. Many investors also are trying to decide 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 of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and some reports 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 are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, August 23, 2018.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) was started as Overweight and assigned a $25 price target (versus a $14.18 prior close) at Cantor Fitzgerald. The stock was indicated up 2.6% at $14.55 on Thursday, in a 52-week trading range of $12.77 to $41.20 and with a prior consensus target price of $31.24.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald. Shares closed down 0.3% at $197.77 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $149.69 to $199.95, and the consensus target price is $203.00.

Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $202 from $181 at Morgan Stanley. Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform rating but lowered its target price to $232 from $240.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) opened lower after earnings but closed up 2% at $97.92 on Wednesday after earnings. Stifel reiterated it as Buy and raised the price target to $110 from $108, and Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $110 from $105.

Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: AINV) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $5.00 price target (versus a $5.75 close) at Citigroup.

Ares Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: ARCC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a target price of $19 (versus a $17.31 close) at Citigroup.

Duluth Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTH) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $30 price target (versus a $28.61 close) at Robert W. Baird.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) was started as Overweight and assigned a $27 price target (versus a $17.65 close, after a 2.5% gain) at Cantor Fitzgerald. Its market cap is $2.5 billion, and it had a $20.38 consensus target price. Shares were indicated up 2% more at $18.00 on Thursday.

Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. (NASDAQ: ITCI) was started as Overweight and assigned a $32 price target (versus a $19.97 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald. It has a $1.09 billion market cap and a 52-week range of $10.82 to $25.82. The consensus target price was $30.00.

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La-Z-Boy Inc. (NYSE: LZB) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets, a day after shares rose 13% to $37.45 and after hitting a split-adjusted all-time high of $39.15.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE LOW) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $126 from $113 at Merrill Lynch. UBS maintained its Buy rating but raised its target to $120 from $115, and KeyBanc Capital Markets maintained its Overweight rating while raising its target to $125 from $115. At Citigroup, Lowe’s was maintained as Neutral but with a target hike to $112 from $99. Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $120 from $110. Shares closed up almost 6% at $105.52 on Wednesday, and the prior consensus target price was $115.38.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $74 from $68 at Morgan Stanley. Merrill Lynch also included it along with a major pharmaceutical sector upgrade on Wednesday.

On Deck Capital Inc. (NYSE: ONDK) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $14 price target (versus an $8.76 close) at B. Riley.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $45 from $43 at Morgan Stanley. Barclays maintained it as Equal Weight and raised the price target to $40 from $38. Merrill Lynch also included Pfizer among a major pharma upgrade on Wednesday.

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $2.50 price target (versus a $1.95 close) at Oppenheimer. Plug Power has a small following with a consensus analyst target of $3.54 and a 52-week range of $1.53 to $3.21.

PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) was started as Neutral with a $43 price target at Citigroup.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $88 from $81 (versus a $66.84 close) at Canaccord Genuity. The 52-week range is $48.65 to $69.28. The consensus target price is $68.55.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was maintained as Hold but the target price was raised to $93 from $85 (versus an $85.94, after a 3.2% gain close) at Stifel. Barclays maintained it as Equal Weight and raised the price target to $90 from $70, and UBS maintained its Neutral rating while raising its target to $90 from $85.

WMIH Corp. (NASDAQ: WMIH) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $1.90 price target (versus a $1.57 close) at Wedbush Securities.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AT&T, CenturyLink, MercadoLibre, Netflix, Starbucks, Tiffany, TJX Companies, YRC Worldwide and many more.

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