Stocks were higher marginally earlier in Thursday’s indications but then ticked lower closer to the opening bell. With the Dow Jones industrial average having risen about 3,000 points from its lows of early January, investors need to 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 in an effort 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 Thursday, February 21, 2019.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $90 from $80 (versus a $78.56 prior close) at Janney, with the firm noting that more M&A is the real news in this quarter and as guidance was effectively maintained for the outer quarters. Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $83 from $80.

Atkore International Group Inc. (NYSE: ATKR) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $25 target price (versus a $24.20 close) at Credit Suisse. The 52-week trading range is $17.47 to $28.67, and the consensus analyst target is $28.00.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was reiterated as Buy with a $102 price target (versus a $98.66 close) at Janney, with the firm noting that its results met expectations, segment performances were in-line with forecasts and that long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth guidance of 7% to 10% through 2023 sees reasonable. Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $109 from $101.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Outperform with a $200 target price (versus a $172.03 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm still sees M&A as the clear answer for Apple, as dark days are on the horizon with a quickly maturing smartphone landscape and pricing pressures a clear headwind worldwide as customers look for lower-priced alternatives.

At Home Group Inc. (NYSE: HOME) was started with a Hold rating and $23 price target (versus a $23.86 close) at Loop Capital.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $205 price target (versus a $194.10 close) at Citigroup.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $346 from $397 at Stifel. The stock closed up 0.6% at $335.16 ahead of the call and was indicated down about 1.2% at $331.00 afterward. It also has a 52-week trading range of $249.17 to $388.67 and a consensus target price of $385.63.

BioTime Inc. (NYSE: BTX) was started as Buy and given a $4 price target (versus a $1.15 close) at H.C. Wainwright. Shares were indicated up over 7% after the call, but the market cap was just $146 million beforehand.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the target price was raised to $275 from $260 (versus a $268.30 close) at Macquarie.

CAI International Inc. (NYSE: CAI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $29 from $34 (versus a $26.57 close, after a 2.3% gain) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $41 price target at Wedbush (see below).

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Longbow Research, but this was after a 17% gain to $83.06 the prior day. It has a consensus target price of $68.14.

GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $84 from $82 at Citigroup. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Overweight and raised the target price to $94 from $88, and Barclays reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $82 from $80. After shares closed down 0.4% at $72.39 ahead of earnings on Wednesday, the Thursday indication was up 2.3% at $74.00, and the consensus analyst target was $83.93 before the adjusted targets were made.

Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE: GFI) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $4 price target (versus a $4.39 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $3.71, and the 52-week trading range of $2.20 to $4.45.

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: (HLIT) was started as Buy and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $5.33 close) at Stifel. The consensus target price was $5.65.

Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $50 (versus a $48.95 close) at Wedbush.

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird. The stock closed up 1.4% at $176.00 ahead of the call, with a consensus analyst target of $182.47.

PayPal Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $110 from $100 (versus a $94.73 close) at Wedbush, with the firm talking up yesterday’s payments monetization luncheon over ongoing efforts to improve Venmo.

ShotSpotter Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTI) was downgraded to In Line from Outperform with a $49 price target (versus a $49.02 close) at Imperial Capital.

Tallgrass Energy L.P. (NYSE: TGE) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was lowered to $25 from $26 (versus a $23.60 close) at Credit Suisse. The shares have a 52-week range of $20.27 to $26.35, and the distribution yield-equivalent is 8.8%.

Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) was started with a Neutral rating at Seaport Global. It closed up over 5% at $81.10 ahead of the call, and it has a 52-week range of $20.10 to $300.00 and a $7.5 billion market value.

UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) was maintained as Outperform at Credit Suisse, but the firm lowered its overseas target in Swiss francs by 5% after the company is lowering its buybacks after French litigation yielded a multibillion-euro fine in Paris for in damages for a longstanding tax evasion investigations.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRCA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $20 target price (versus an $11.12 close) at H.C. Wainwright. Its 52-week range is $6.44 to $23.29, and it had a $285 million market cap.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $120 from $116 at Citigroup. The stock closed at $99.18 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $79.96 to $100.16. The consensus target price was $105.50.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $133 from $122 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Barclays maintained its Overweight rating but lowered its target to $120 from $125. This was after Wednesday’s 11.6% drop to $111.11. The consensus analyst target is $116.53.

Wolverine World Wide Inc. (NYSE: WWW) was reiterated as Outperform with a $41 price target (versus a $35.33 close) at Wedbush. The firm noted that Wolverine had a mixed fourth quarter while the company is abating issues and its global growth agenda should create upside to the 2019 outlook.

Wedbush made some changes to its Best Ideas List on Thursday as well. The company added SLM Corp. (NASDAQ: SLM) to the list because the next three years should bring EPS growth of 12% to 15% per year while allowing for more dividends and buybacks. SLM is also trading at 7.9 times expected earnings, versus about 10.7 times at its peers. Wedbush removed D.R. Horton and Proofpoint Inc. (NASDAQ: PFPT) from the Best Ideas List. On D.R. Horton it sees no additional catalysts that would warrant an upgrade to its target price, and on Proofpoint the firm showed that the stock price is nearly at its target after a recent 30% run-up in the stock since January 22.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls included CenturyLink, Deere, Ecolab, E*Trade, Merck, Southwest Airlines, S&P, Transocean, Walmart and many more.

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