Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amarin, Baker Hughes, Canopy Growth, Home Depot, Intelsat, J&J, Replimune, Schlumberger, Transocean and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 20, 2019 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 12:57 pm

Markets have hit new highs recently, but the main indexes were all marginally lower on Wednesday morning. With the Dow Jones industrials up over 28,000 and the S&P 500 over 3,100, investors are starting to see upside targets issued for 2020. Despite the record levels in recent days and weeks, the investor community still has a lot of pressing issues and risks to consider, now that the bull market is over 10 and a half years old. This is a time for investors to consider what changes they should be making for their portfolios and assets heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

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, while others 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 sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Wednesday, November 20, 2019.

Amarin Corp. PLC (NASDAQ: AMRN) was started as Underperform and assigned a $7 target price (versus a $22.73 prior close) at Oppenheimer. Shares were indicated down 6% at $21.35 on Wednesday.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) was started with an Outperform rating and a $128 target price (versus a $97.93 close) at Oppenheimer.

Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) was started with a Buy rating and a $32 target price (versus a $22.01 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Berry Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: BRY) was down 21.4% at $8.90 on Tuesday after new fracking bans were issued in California. BMO Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its target to $10 from $13. Wells Fargo downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its target to $9.00, while KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded it to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $6.50 price target.

Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed up 7.7% at $15.32 the prior day, and they were indicated up 5.2% at $16.10 on Wednesday morning.

Cboe Global Markets Inc. (BATS: CBOE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. Shares closed up 1.7% at $122.51, in a 52-week trading range of $87.87 to $122.88 and with a $121.00 target price.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this medical innovator is a superstar stock. Shares most recently closed at $243.56, with a consensus price target of $242.89.

Evergy Inc. (NYSE: EVRG) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed at $64.77 ahead of the call, in a 52-week range of $54.57 to $67.81, and with a consensus target price of $65.78.

Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this watchmaker still hasn’t turned around sales. Shares last closed at $7.31, with a consensus price target of $14.33.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was started with a Buy rating and a $26 target price (versus a $19.90 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) was started with a Sell rating and a $34 target price (versus a $38.41 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) fell 5.4% to $225.86 a share after earnings. Wedbush Securities reiterated it as Neutral with a $230 target price after the earnings report, noting that the sales miss and lower guidance showed an uneven execution for the company at a time the firm believes that market trends remain soft as well.

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, and the new target price is $12. Shares closed down another 24% at $6.09 on Tuesday, but they were indicated up 10% at $6.70 on Wednesday morning. This was a $13 stock before the FCC announced plans to take its spectrum for 5G.

KLA Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) was started with a Buy rating and a $215 target price (versus a $175.99 close) at Nomura/Instinet.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and its target price was lowered to $48 from $56 (versus a $47.02 prior close, after a 19.5% post-earnings drop) at Goldman Sachs.

LivePerson Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) was started as Neutral with a $40 target price (versus a $37.26 close) at JPMorgan.

PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE: PAGS) was maintained as Overweight but its target price was lowered to $46 from $56 (versus a $36.76 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was started with a Sell rating and a $7 target price (versus an $8.47 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and its target price was raised to $278 from $230 (versus a $239.49 close) at RBC Capital Markets. The prior consensus target price was $238.53.

Replimune Group Inc. (NASDAQ: REPL) was reiterated as Outperform with a $30 target price (versus a $12.50 close) at Wedbush, which called this best idea after its recent Phase 1 data presentation that demonstrated a proof of mechanism, favorable safety and efficacy across a range of tumors in refractory patients.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was started with a Buy rating and a $42 target price (versus a $34.31 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Edward Jones. The stock closed down 0.3% at $584.20, in a 52-week range of $365.20 to $597.00 and with a consensus target price of $608.33.

TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI) was started with a Buy rating and a $33 target price (versus a $19.28 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: TW) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $53 from $52 (versus a $43.27 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) was started with a Sell rating and a $3 target price (versus a $4.66 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) was reiterated as Outperform and the $245 target price was raised to $265 (versus a $235.91 close) at Imperial Capital.

Are analysts chasing up the top semiconductor, processor and chipset leaders up too high on their price targets?

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Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, Advanced Micro Devices, AT& T, Broadcom, Energy Transfer, Ford, Fortinet, Intel, Intelsat, Shake Shack, T-Mobile and many more.