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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Airlines, ADM, BB&T, Cimarex, CRISPR, Editas, Grubhub, Kroger, NXP, Twitter, Walmart and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 8, 2019 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 12:51 am

Stocks saw profit taking on Thursday, and that appeared to be the trend on Friday as well. Despite selling pressure, investors should consider that the Dow Jones industrials have risen by over 2,500 points above the lows from the start of January up to this week’s highs. Investors should be considering how they want their assets positioned for 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 on Friday, February 8, 2019.

American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was started with a Hold rating at Argus. Its shares closed down 1.6% at $36.17 on Thursday and were indicated down 0.4% at $36.00 on Friday. Shares have a 52-week range of $28.81 to $57.44 and a consensus price target of $45.29.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel. ADM shares closed down 1.1% at $41.40 on Thursday and were indicated up 0.8% at $41.70 on Friday. The consensus target price is $53.40.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. Shares most recently closed at $878.77, in a 52-week range of $590.76 to $896.03. The stock has a consensus price target of $919.00.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) closed up almost 4% at $50.46 on Thursday on word it was merging with SunTrust. Merrill Lynch raised BB&T to Buy from Neutral.

Carbonite Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) was down 15% at $24.75 in early indications on Friday after earnings and announcing it was acquiring Webroot. Stifel downgraded it to Hold from Buy and slashed the target price to $25 from $44. Shares have a 52-week range of $20.50 to $43.63 and a consensus price target of $40.64.

Century Communities Inc. (NYSE: CCS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was lowered to $24 from $26 at Wedbush Securities. Shares closed at $23.90, in a 52-week range of $16.35 to $35.50. The consensus price target is $33.00.

Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) was raised to Positive from Neutral and the target price was raised to $88 from $74 (versus a $71.56 prior close) at Susquehanna.

CRISPR Therapeutics A.G. (NASDAQ: CRSP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $43 target price (versus a $29.78 close, after an 8.7% drop) at BTIG.

Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $30 price target (versus a $19.43 close, after a 7.9% drop) at BTIG.

Grubhub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, and Roth Capital also raised it to Buy from Neutral. Shares closed down 2% at $82.27 on Thursday but were indicated up the same amount on Friday. Shares have a 52-week range of $66.62 to $149.35 and a consensus analyst target of $114.73.

Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $55.84 close, after a 5.6% drop) at Pivotal Research. Kellogg had a $65.67 consensus target price, and its 52-week range is $55.11 to $74.98.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was started as Underperform at Buckingham Research. It closed down 0.4% at $28.18 and had a consensus target price of $31.09. Shares have a 52-week range of $22.85 to $32.74.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was up 5% at $55.76 on Thursday after beating earnings estimates. Nomura/Instinet still downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. Its consensus target price was $50.24.

NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham. Shares closed at $50.52, in a 52-week range of $43.51 to $72.41. The consensus price target is $59.33.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by Mizuho. After closing down almost 2% at $90.73 on Thursday, it was indicated down another 0.8% on Friday, and it has a consensus target price of $99.00.

SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) was up 10% at $64.72 after announcing a merger with BB&T. Sanford Bernstein downgraded SunTrust to Market Perform from Outperform, but Macquarie raised its rating to Neutral from Underperform.

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Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) was down almost 10% at $11.40 on Thursday and down another 6.5% at $10.65 for its American depositary shares after posting a loss. Merrill Lynch downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy, and Nomura/Instinet downgraded them to Neutral as well. The 52-week trading range is $10.49 to $29.39.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) closed down almost 10% at $30.80 on Thursday after earnings, in a 52-week range of $26.19 to $47.79 and with a consensus target price of $34.54. Wedbush maintained Twitter as Neutral with a $37 price target (versus a $30.80 close). Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal Weight rating and lowered its target to $31 from $33.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was started as Neutral at Buckingham Research. Walmart shares closed up 0.2% at $96.89 on Thursday and were indicated to open flat on Friday. Shares have a 52-week range of $81.78 to $106.21 and a consensus analyst target of $106.93.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Bloom Energy, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Cummins, FireEye, Humana, MacroGenics, Spirit Airlines, Vale, Walt Disney and many more.