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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Chipotle, Delphi, Dollar General, Facebook, Ingersoll-Rand, Nike, Okta, Quest Diagnostics and More

Lee Jackson

Published: March 18, 2019 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 11:19 pm

The futures were trading slightly lower Monday morning as investors hoped for another solid week of gains from the stock market. With the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament starting on Thursday, it’s a good bet that market volume will dry up some later this week.

While investors have seen the market recover massively, only to sell-off and recover, they have to be continually considering how they want their investments and assets positioned for the rest of 2019 and for the long haul.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new trading and investing ideas. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary and trading data have been added on some of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters (Refinitiv) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, March 19, 2019.

CarGurus Inc. (NASDAQ: CARG) was resumed in coverage with a Buy rating at Goldman Sachs, which is up from the prior Neutral rating, and the firm raised the price target to $48. That compares to the Wall Street consensus target of $50.90. The stock closed Friday at $38.52.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) saw its target price raised to $725 from $661 at Piper Jaffray. The consensus for the casual food giant is much lower at $554.58. The stock closed trading on Friday at $639.

Delphi Technologies PLC (NYSE: DLPH) was raised to Sector Weight from Underweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The consensus price target is $24.56, and Friday’s close was $19.02 a share.

Dentsply Sirona Inc. (NASDAQ: XRAY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at William Blair. The 52-week trading range is $33.93 to $56.71, and the consensus price objective is $52.22. The shares ended Friday a $49.09.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. Shares have traded between $86.87 and $121.27 over the past year. The consensus price target is $120.48, and share ended trading Friday at $113.89.

Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie. The 52-week trading range is $61.52 to $77.22, and the consensus price target is $75.29. With the stock closing Friday at $77.04, this could be a valuation call.

Elanco Animal Health Inc. (NASDAQ: ELAN) was raised to a Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. The 52-week trading range is $28 to $37.61, and the consensus price target is $34.70. Shares were last seen Friday at $30.64.

Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $13.42 to $25.19. The consensus price objective is $30.27, and shares were last at $24.53.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham, and the analysts cited numerous risks, not the least of which is the growing concern over regulation. The consensus target price for the social media behemoth’s shares is $196.46, which compares to a Friday close of $165.98.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo, but the firm raised its price target to $113. The consensus target is also $113. The shares closed Friday at $106.10.

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) saw its price target lowered from $28 to $24 at Morgan Stanley, which compares to the consensus target of $33.03. It kept the firm’s Equal Weight rating for the stock in place, and shares ended Friday at $17.17.

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Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LITE) was reiterated at Strong Buy at Needham, which has a $65 price target. The consensus target is $64.14, and the stock was last seen at $53.50, up over 4% on the day.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) saw its target price raised to $95 from $92 at Telsey Advisory Group. The shares have been on fire, trading between $63.21 and $87.99 over the past year. The consensus target is lower at $88.02, and the stock closed on Friday at $86.80.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA) is raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The consensus price target is posted at $84.34. Shares closed Friday at $79.21, down almost 5%, but were up in Monday’s premarket.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) was resumed in coverage at Credit Suisse with a Neutral rating, which is lower than the prior Outperform. The analysts lowered the price target as well, to $91, and the consensus target is $95.18. The stock ended trading on Friday at $88.45.

SolarWind Corp. (NYSE: SWI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. The firm’s $20 price target compares to the $20 consensus estimate. The stock closed up almost 6% Friday at $20.10, but shares were trading down in the premarket.

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TTPH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gabelli. The consensus price target is $6.75, and the shares closed Friday at $1.41.

Friday’s top analyst calls included AT&T, Adobe, Amazon.com, BWX Technologies, Lam Research, Schlumberger, Oracle, Ulta Beauty and many more.