Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AEP, Boeing, Dollar Tree, GE, Micron, NextEra, P&G, Roku, Snap, Starbucks, Tesla, Wynn and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: April 8, 2019 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 10:22 pm

Stocks were looking for a softer opening bell indication on Monday, but the major market indexes are still up double-digit percentages year to date, with the S&P 500 within striking distance of all-time highs. Investors need to consider how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of the year and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of the daily 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 and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, April 8, 2019.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $33 price target (versus a $96.31 prior close) at Credit Suisse.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. AEP closed up 1.1% at $83.57 on Friday, and it has a consensus target price of $83.44.

Avangrid Inc. (NYSE: AGR) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $47 price target (versus a $50.50 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Avery Dennison Corp. (NYSE: AVY) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Barnes & Noble Education Inc. (NYSE: BNED) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $7 price target (versus a $4.76 close) at Needham.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch with a $420 price target (versus a $391.93 close) after the announced production cuts, with the firm noting that what was expected to be a three to six month issue is now more likely to be a six to nine month one. Boeing’s stock was indicated down 4% at $376.25 on Monday morning, after having initially been down only about 2% in Friday’s after-hours trading session.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. It closed down 0.8% at $155.60 on Friday and was indicated down another 2% at $152.50 on Monday. The consensus target price is $153.13.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was lowered to $105 from $115 (versus a $105.99 close) at Loop Capital.

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) was started as Neutral with a $62 price target (versus a $57.25 close) at Nomura/Instinet.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, and the firm lowered its price target to $5 from $6 (versus a $10.01 close). GE’s consensus target price was $12.54 ahead of this call, and GE shares were indicated down over 5% at $9.45 on the downgrade.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLCO) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $29 target price (versus a $25.10 close) at Macquarie. The consensus target price was $26.46.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $45 price target (versus a $43.18 close) at Cowen.

NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) was maintained as Buy at Goldman Sachs with a $194 price target (versus a $190.08 close), but the firm removed NextEra from its prized Conviction Buy list.

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Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. Shares of P&G closed up 0.2% at $103.65 and were indicated up 0.8% at $104.50 on Monday. The consensus target price was $98.69.

Roku Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $50 price target (versus a $63.15 close) at Citigroup. Shares closed down 1.7% at $63.40 on Friday and were indicated down 4.9% at $60.28 on Monday.

Smith Micro Software Inc. (NASDAQ: SMSI) was started as Buy with a $5 price target (versus a $2.91 close) at Chardan Capital Markets.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $17 from $10 (versus $11.84 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets. Snap’s consensus analyst target price was just $8.85 ahead of the call, and this took target is a new street-high with the prior high analyst target being $15.00. Snap’s 52-week range is $4.82 to $15.96.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James, and also Canaccord Genuity lowered its rating on Southwest shares to Hold from Buy.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $78 price target (versus a $73.70 close) at UBS. Starbucks was indicated down almost 1% at $74.37 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $69.80.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $28 price target (versus a $22.99 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $400 from $450. Tesla closed up 2.7% at $274.96 on Friday and was indicated up 0.9% at $277.50 on Monday.

WEC Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: WEC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $170 price target (versus a $140.94 close) at Jefferies. The consensus target price is $136.88.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen.

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Friday’s top analyst calls included Bed Bath & Beyond, Celgene, Dow, Fannie Mae, Intel, Lennar, Snap, UGI, Viacom, WEX and many more.