Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Caterpillar, Costco, GW Pharma, NXP, Southwest Air, Teva, Ulta, Wells Fargo and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 7, 2018 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 6:16 pm

Stocks were indicated marginally lower after a strong jobs numbers on Friday morning, but despite a sell-off, the market remains close to all-time highs. Investors have seen less upside when buying the market pullbacks than in prior years, and investors need to consider how they want their investments positioned for the rest of 2018.

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, but 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 are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday, September 7, 2018.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw its price target raised to $250 from $218 at Piper Jaffray ahead of the coming iPhone refresh event. The call is based on two-thirds of iPhone owners using a phone that is two years old or more, which keeps the iPhone super-cycle going strong.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was started as Neutral at Oppenheimer, with the firm noting that valuation concerns are currently offsetting an upbeat outlook from management.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $245 from $220 (versus a $236.68 prior close) at Stifel.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $6.25 price target (versus a $1.43 close) at Ladenburg Thalmann. The stock was down 3.4% on Thursday but indicated up 8% at $1.55 on Friday, and it has a 52-week trading range of $1.28 to $2.27.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) was started as Overweight with a $197 price target at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed at $139.63 on Thursday. The 52-week range is $92.46 to $164.76, and the consensus target price was $169.00.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was started as Overweight and assigned a $27 price target (versus a $19.46 close, after a 5% drop) at JPMorgan. The stock was indicated up 8% at $21.00 on Friday, with a consensus analyst target price of $27.45 and a 52-week range of $17.20 to $25.18.

Medallion Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: MFIN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $10 price target (versus a $6.13 close) at B. Riley.

NextDecade Corp. (NASDAQ: NEXT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $6 price objective (versus a $5.16 close) at Merrill Lynch.

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NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was started as Outperform with a $111 price target (versus a $93.98 close) at Cowen.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was down 0.8% at $220.37 ahead of earnings on Thursday and shares were indicated up over 6% at $234.00 in Friday’s post-earnings reaction. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Overweight and raised the price target to $262 from $240. UBS reiterated its Neutral rating on valuation but still raised its target to $232 from $212. Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target from $245 to $263.

Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE: RDC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. Rowan closed down over 2% at $14.19 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $9.67 to $17.33 and with a consensus target price of $16.00.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $172 from $165 (versus a $148.83 close) at Barclays. Salesforce.com recently saw a wave of analysts hiking their price targets higher, but its 52-week and all-time high is $154.97.

Shire PLC (NASDAQ: SHPG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $73 price target (versus a $61.03 close) at Argus. Shares were indicated up 0.7% at $61.50 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $49.93 to $66.99 and with a consensus analyst target of $66.57.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $23 price target (versus a $21.75 close) at Credit Suisse. The consensus target price is $20.83, and the 52-week range is $10.85 to $25.96.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TROW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. The shares were down 1.1% at $113.26 on Thursday and were indicated down about 1% more at $112.00 on Friday.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised up to $315 from $285 (versus a $275.66 close) at UBS.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was started as Market Perform with an $81 price target (versus a $78.04 close) at Cowen.

Zogenix Inc. (NASDAQ: ZGNX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $116 price target (versus a $45.65 close, after a 6% drop) at B. Riley. Its shares were indicated up over 3% at $47.10 on Friday after the “more than double” analyst call.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Chevron, First Data, JD.com, MongoDB, PG&E, Rite Aid, Tilray, Vodafone and many more.