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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AON, Conoco, Groupon, JinkoSolar, NextEra, WisdomTree, Xilinx, Yelp and More
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Stocks were looking for direction on Monday morning with a light news day. Friday’s small market gains put the Dow Jones industrial average up over 2,400 points from its lows on January 3, and investors need to consider how they want their assets positioned for the rest of 2019 and beyond.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others 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 initiations seen om Monday, February 4, 2019.
AON PLC (NYSE: AON) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $200 target price (versus a $167.46 prior close) at MKM Partners. Shares closed up 7.2% on Friday, and the stock has a consensus target price of $165.94. Its 52-week trading range is $134.79 to $168.49, and that high was also seen on Friday.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $82 from $76 (versus a $68.678 close) at Goldman Sachs. Conoco has a 52-week range of $50.18 to $80.24, and its consensus target price was $74.72 ahead of the call.
Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. It closed down 0.5% at $18.89 on Friday, with a consensus target price of $22.75 and a 52-week trading range of $16.90 to $25.55.
Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) was started as Neutral with a $3.50 target price (versus a $3.78 close) at Goldman Sachs. Groupon has a 52-week range of $2.80 to $5.52, and it had a consensus target price of $4.26.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) was started with a Neutral rating Goldman Sachs. Shares closed at $211.09 on Friday. The consensus target price is $237.30, and a 52-week trading range is $128.80 to $223.54.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ICPT) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.
JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $20 target price (versus a $15.15 close) at Goldman Sachs. It had a consensus target price of $12.80, and its 52-week trading range is $7.11 to $21.60.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $16.63 close) at Wedbush Securities. The call was based on valuation and on earnings inconsistency.
MacroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGNX) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the target price was lowered to $10 from $22 (versus an $11.43 close) at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $11.00 to $32.74.
Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $45 price target (versus a $54.73 close) at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed up 2.3% on Friday and were indicated down about 5% at $52.05 on Monday, with a prior consensus target price of $50.25.
Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Shares closed up 1.4% at $83.56 on Friday but were indicated down almost 2% at $82.00 on Monday. The consensus target price was $76.41. The 52-week trading range is $27.71 to $83.58.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $17 price target (versus a $15.33 close) at Wedbush, with the downgrade based on valuation and some fading catalysts that have caught up to the story.
Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $40 target price (versus a $44.53 close) at Goldman Sachs. The stock had a consensus target price of $66.25, and it has a 52-week trading range of $35.08 to $100.34.
Thor Industries Inc. (NYSE: THO) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $62 price target (versus a $63.89 close) at BMO Capital Markets.
Triton International Ltd. (NYSE: TRTN) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy with a $32 price target (versus a $35.57 close) at Merrill Lynch.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was started with an In-Line rating and assigned a $160 price target (versus a $150.52 close) at Evercore ISI. The 52-week range is $108.46 to $169.25, and the consensus target price is $167.13.
WisdomTree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was maintained as Outperform but the target price was lowered to $8 at Credit Suisse. The firm lowered its earnings estimates due to a higher operating expense forecast. Citigroup also downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $122 price target (versus a $112.02 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus analyst target was $102.48, and the 52-week trading range is $62.27 to $113.44.
Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $42 target price (versus a $37.17 close) at Goldman Sachs. Yelp’s consensus target price was $37.18, and it has a 52-week range of $29.33 to $52.50.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH) was reiterated as Underperform and the price target was lowered to $101 from $102 at Credit Suisse, with the company’s view of continued losses in the knee market outweighing an earnings beat and improving supply lifting sentiment.
Friday’s top analyst calls included Alibaba, Amazon.com, AVEO, Baker Hughes, Celgene, DowDuPont, Facebook, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Steel and many more.
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