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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Acacia, Baidu, BioMarin, Boeing, BP, CSX, Deere, HCA, PepsiCo, Redfin, S&P, Trimble, Visa, Zillow and More

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Stocks were indicated to open slightly lower on Wednesday after Tuesday’s equity trading recovered handily off the lows. All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s words on Wednesday, with hints and pointers on when the market should really expect its first interest rate cut. The S&P, Dow Jones industrials and Nasdaq are all very close to all-time highs, and this bull market is well over 10 years old. This is a time when investors should be considering exactly how to position their portfolios and assets for the second half of 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 traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of the calls. 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 on Wednesday, July 10, 2019.

Acacia Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) was up 35% to $64.91 after news that Cisco is acquiring the company. Now the downgrades are coming as the deal realizes the full value. UBS cut it to Neutral from Buy, and Piper Jaffray downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight, now that the deal has been announced.

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned an $8.50 price target at JPMorgan.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was maintained as Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets, but the firm lowered its target price to $160 from $179.

BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) was reiterated as Outperform with a $128 target price (versus an $80.39 prior close) at Wedbush Securities.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. Shares closed down 0.3% at $40.95, in a 52-week range of $36.28 to $47.16 and with a consensus target price of $50.08.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was maintained as Buy at UBS, but the firm lowered its target price to $480 from $500. Shares closed up 0.6% at $353.09, in a 52-week range of $292.47 to $446.01. The consensus target price is $420.14.

Core Laboratories N.C. (NYSE: CLB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $63 price objective at Merrill Lynch.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, but its price target was raised to $167 from $158. Shares closed down 0.3% at $163.35, in a 52-week range of $128.32 to $169.99 and with a consensus target price of $165.28.

HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $160 from $147 at Goldman Sachs.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was started as Overweight and assigned a $220 target price at JPMorgan.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was started as Buy and assigned a $237 price target (versus a $197.71 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $211.35, and shares were indicated up 0.6% at $199.00 on Wednesday.


PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) was reiterated as Buy and the price objective was raised to $142 from $135 at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed down 0.6% at $131.74. The 52-week range is $104.53 to $135.24, and the consensus target price is $127.84.

Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD) was started as Underweight at JPMorgan. Shares closed up 2.2% at $20.48, in a 52-week range of $16.53 to $31.99 and with a consensus target price of $29.39.

Prologis Inc. (NYSE: PLD) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $86 from $79 at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

RealPage Inc. (NASDAQ: RP) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $74 price target at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Redfin Corp. (NASDAQ: RDFN) was started as Buy and assigned a $23 price target at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. Shares closed up 0.7% at $2.84, in a 52-week range of $2.77 to $6.23. The consensus target price is $4.38.

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) was started as Overweight and assigned a $260 target price at JPMorgan. Shares closed down 0.4% at $231.48, in a 52-week range of $156.68 to $238.99 and with a consensus target price of $233.43.

Trimble Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMB) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $46 target price at JPMorgan.

Wabtec Corp. (NYSE: WAB) was started as Neutral with an $80 target price at Citigroup.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG) was started as Buy by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Shares closed up 2% at $49.83, in a 52-week range of $26.38 to $63.86. The consensus target price is $41.00.

Wells Fargo reiterated its Outperform ratings on Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA). The firm raised its target price on Visa to $200 from $180 (versus a $177.73 close), and Mastercard’s target was raised to $305 from $285 (versus a $273.34 close).

Environmental and social investing (or ESG) has a dirty little secret that will move more front and center as the exchange-traded funds and interest around such investing continue to grow.

Zacks has named Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) as its Bull of the Day, as it is seeing estimates move higher, but the move today is due to a deal with a major customer. The Bear of the Day is Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI), which has seen overall weakness in its sector that has ultimately pushed estimates down.

Analysts just aren’t positive enough about the most recent hot IPO targeting online pet product sales.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Albermarle, Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Beyond Meat, Citigroup, 3M, Nike, Slack, Square, Wells Fargo and many more companies. Monday’s top analyst calls were in American Express, Apple, Applied Materials, Best Buy, CrowdStrike, F5 Networks, NetApp, Verizon and others.

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