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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amex, Bristol-Myers, Celgene, Cognizant, EA, Fortinet, Lyft, Target, Tilray, Walmart and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: May 3, 2019 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 9:12 pm

Stocks were indicated to open higher after a strong payrolls report on Friday morning. Despite a pullback this week, the markets remain near all-time highs and investors have solid double-digit percentage gains in all three major equity indexes year to date. With the thought of “sell in May and go away” entering the fray after such strong gains, investors need to be considering 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, but other reports 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 Friday, May 3, 2019.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the price target was lowered to $2.50 from $5.00 at Barclays. The stock closed up 3.4% at $3.01 on Thursday but was indicated down 3.3% at $2.91 on Friday.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. RBC Capital Markets started Amex with a Sector Perform rating. Shares closed up 0.2% at $117.25 on Thursday, with a consensus target price of $121.67 and a 52-week trading range of $89.05 to $117.99.

BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Bottomline Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: EPAY) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the price target was lowered to $55 from $65 (versus a $50.39 prior close) at Raymond James.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $55 from $53 at Barclays. JPMorgan also started it with an Overweight rating and $62 price target. The shares closed up 0.6% at $46.88 on Thursday and were indicated up almost 1% at $47.30 on Friday. The prior consensus target price was $57.10, and the 52-week trading range is $44.30 to $63.69.

Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) was down 7.7% at $66.61 on Thursday and was down another 7.7% at $61.50 on Friday after the post-earnings analyst downgrade brigade came out. JPMorgan downgraded it to Underweight from Neutral, and Goldman Sachs downgraded it to Neutral from Buy. KeyBanc Capital Markets cut its rating to Sector Weight from Overweight, and Evercore ISI downgraded shares to In-Line from Outperform. The prior consensus target price was $81.48. The 52-week trading range is $59.47 to $83.35.

Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: COLL) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $23 price target (versus a $13.90 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) was started coverage with an Outperform rating and assigned a $96 price target (versus an $81.14 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at MKM Partners, with the firm calling the success of Apex Legends a head-fake in its report.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was last seen down over 6% at $85.80 after earnings, with a prior consensus target price of $89.15. Citigroup downgraded it to Sell from Neutral and lowered the target price to $78 from $84.

Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays.

Janus Henderson Group PLC (NYSE: JHG) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Kirby Corp. (NYSE: KEX) was raised to Buy from Underperform at Merrill Lynch, a day after its shares popped up 4.7% to $81.84.

Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ: LYFT) was started with an Underweight rating and assigned a $50 price target at Atlantic Equities. Lyft closed up 4.7% at $61.50 on Thursday but was indicated down about 0.2% at $61.35 on Friday. The same firm also assigned a pre-IPO coverage on Uber with a Neutral rating and $55 price target.

MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ: MELI) was raised to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna.

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $39 price target (versus a $34.15 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein. Target closed up 1% at $76.42 on Thursday and was indicated down 0.4% at $76.10 on Friday, with a prior consensus target price of $86.65.

Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) was raised to Hold from Underperform with a $57 price target (versus a $51.04 close) at Jefferies. Shares closed down 3.3% at $50.23 but were indicated up 1.5% at $51.00. The consensus target price was listed as $106.67, but estimates are all over the place on these legalized cannabis stocks.

TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $65 price target (versus a $52.44 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein. After closing down 0.2% at $101.15 on Thursday it was indicated up 0.7% at $101.90, with a consensus target price of $108.97.

Yeti Holdings Inc. (NYSE: YETI) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, but the firm raised its target price to $33 from $31. This was after a post-earnings drop of 8.8% down to $30.94 on Thursday. The prior consensus target price was $35.09.

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE: ZTS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Gabelli.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included American Water Works, Arconic, Cree, Dell Technologies, Humana, Merck, Qualcomm, Square, Tesla, Zynga and many more.