Stocks were indicated to open marginally lower on Thursday after a mixed Wednesday. With the Dow Jones industrial average’s recent gains having been about 3,500 points from its lows of early January, investors have to consider trade policies, peace negotiations, politics and the current business climate. Those same investors should also 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 Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, February 28, 2019:

American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) was downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer. The stock closed down 0.5% at $173.20 and has a consensus target price of $171.47. Its 52-week trading range is $132.02 to $178.32.

Atlassian Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: TEAM) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $114 target price (versus a $106.33 prior close) at Deutsche Bank.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) was down 0.5% at $1,906.00 ahead of earnings but was last seen down 9% at $1,735.00 afterward. Atlantic Equities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight, while Wedbush Securities maintained its Outperform rating but lowered its target to $2,000 from $2,100.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Rosenblatt, and KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded it to Sector Weight from Overweight. Shares closed at $24.88, in a 52-week range of $15.64 to $29.79 and with a consensus target price of $26.53.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the target price was lowered to $47 from $68 (versus a $56.99 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Covetrus Inc. (NASDAQ: CVET) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $45 price target (versus a $37.47 close) at Raymond James.

Cryolife Inc. (NYSE: CRY) was started with a Hold rating at Needham. Shares closed at $29.65. The 52-week trading range is $18.60 to $36.05, and the consensus analyst target is $35.50.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank, with the firm citing valuation after solid gains. Shares closed at $118.17, and the stock has a 52-week range of $85.54 to $120.33 and a consensus target price of $118.28.

D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI Group. Shares closed at $40.04, in a 52-week range of $32.39 to $47.00. The consensus target price is $44.25.

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at D.A. Davidson, but Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating. Shares closed up almost 4% at $6.87 ahead of earnings but were last seen trading down 15% at $5.83 on Thursday morning.

Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the target price was raised to $20 from $15 (versus a $17.77 close) at JPMorgan.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) was downgraded to Underperform from Buy with a $19 price objective (versus a $23.85 close) at Merrill Lynch. The shares were indicated down almost 14% at $20.53 after earnings.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI Group. Shares closed at $23.14. The 52-week range is $16.82 to $31.48. The consensus target price is $23.56.

LendingTree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. Shares closed at $321.00, in a 52-week range of $183.25 to $391.40. They have a consensus target price of $290.25.

Newmark Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NMRK) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was lowered to $16 from $20 (versus a $9.30 close) at Wedbush.

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI Group. Shares closed at $27.09, in a 52-week range of $20.64 to $33.04 and with a consensus target price of $26.40.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was maintained as Neutral but the price target was raised to $18 from $17 at Wedbush. Sandler O’Neill downgraded it to Hold from Buy. The stock closed at $16.57 a share, and it has a 52-week range of $12.39 to $20.21 and a consensus target price of $17.46.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI Group. Shares closed at $36.33. The consensus target price is $38.07, and the 52-week trading range is $28.68 to $45.76.

Vericel Corp. (NASDAQ: VCEL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham. It closed at $18.52, in a 52-week range of $7.90 to $21.01. The consensus analyst target is $21.90.

Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $13 price target (versus an $8.84 close) at B. Riley FBR.

Credit Suisse’s technical analysis team has issued a note suggesting that the S&P 500 recovery is starting to stall at key flagged resistance levels of at 2,800 and 2,815, and the firm is looking for a market cap around this level. It also noted that oil is the other key risk to its outlook for U.S. Equities to top out here, as Brent and WTI crude oil maintain a “head & shoulders” base. There is also a risk that the U.S. dollar may be forming a large bearish head and shoulders top.

Deutsche Bank is positive on four banks despite having some caution in the banking sector.

RBC Capital Markets thinks three semiconductor stocks have serious upside ahead.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls were in Benefitfocus, Chubb, Dominion Energy, Home Depot, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Mylan, Philip Morris, Weight Watchers and many more.

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