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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Accenture, Blucora, Carnival, CNOOC, Hormel, Intuit, Lowe's, Tesla, WPX Energy, Zynga and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: September 28, 2018 8:35 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 5:11 pm

Stocks have seen a mixed week after an FOMC rate hike, and the last day of the quarter appeared to be under selling pressure as trouble is back in Italy and the Italian banks. Many investors have had to deal with seeing lower upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Now the investing community has to consider how to have their investments positioned for the rest of 2018 and into 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but some of them 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 28, 2018.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) was reiterated as Buy at Argus, and the independent research firm raised its target price to $200 from $175 (versus a $170.05 prior closing price). The firm noted Accenture is highly conservative in its guidance and that its customers have continued to engage the company to help it in its digital transformation. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $133.66 to $175.64.

Blucora Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOR) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $45 from $42 (versus a $37.05 close) at JPMorgan. The 52-week range is $19.05 to $40.60, and the consensus target price is $43.33.

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $28 price target (versus a $30.19 close) at Deutsche Bank. Shares were indicated down about 0.65% at $30.00 in the premarket trading session.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $76 from $78 (versus a $63.74 close, after a 4.8% drop on earnings) at Stifel. Credit Suisse maintained its Outperform rating, noting that it sees a great buying opportunity on the weakness.

CAI International Inc. (NYSE: CAI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie. The American depositary shares were up 3.1% at $193.08 on Thursday and indicated up 0.7% at $194.50 on Friday’s early trading. The 52-week range is $126.36 to $194.24.

Costamare Inc. (NYSE: CMRE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) was started as Neutral and assigned a $41 price target (versus a $38.90 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $36.58. The 52-week range is $29.75 to $42.29.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $250 from $230 (versus a $222.82 close) at Credit Suisse. The firm came away from the investor day more confident in its long-term growth and margin potential. The consensus analyst target is $215.29, and the 52-week high is $229.86.

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Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $138 price target (versus a $114.50 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Also, Telsey Advisory reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $126 from $123.

Myokardia Inc. (NASDAQ: MYOK) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $90 price target (versus a $64.60 close) at Citigroup. It has a 52-week range of $32.80 to $67.45 and had a consensus target price of $72.67.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: NCLH) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $55 price target (versus a $48.18 close) at Macquarie. The 52-week trading range is $39.57 to $50.39.

Phillips 66 Partners (NYSE: PSXP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $50 price target (versus a $51.03 prior close, after a 1.3% gain) at Morgan Stanley.

Seaspan Corp. (NYSE: SSW) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

TechTarget Inc. (NASDAQ: TTGT) was started as Outperform with a $26 price target (versus a $19.34 close) at Raymond James.

Teledoc Health Inc. (NYSE: TDOC) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $94 from $90 (versus an $82.50 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Telecom Argentina S.A. (NYSE: TEO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $23 price objective for its American depositary shares (versus an $18.34 close) at Merrill Lynch. Its 52-week range is $15.26 to $40.19.

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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was down 0.67% at $307.52 on Thursday ahead of the SEC lawsuit, but the shares were indicated down 12.3% at $270.00 in Friday’s premarket trading. The 52-week range is $244.59 to $387.46. Citigroup downgraded Tesla to Sell from Neutral and slashed its target price to $225 from $356. JPMorgan has an Underweight rating and $195 price target, and there is now talk of key man risk in that call.

Textainer Group Holdings (NYSE: TGH) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Triton International Ltd. (NYSE: TRTN) was downgraded Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $28 price target (versus a $19.65 close) at Jefferies.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $5 price target (versus a $3.96 close) at Stifel. The 52-week range is $3.20 to $4.57. The consensus analyst target is $4.84.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AMD, Amazon.com, Apple, Bed Bath & Beyond, Citigroup, Mastercard, PayPal, Square, Visa and many more.