Stocks saw a 0.3% drop on the S&P 500 and 0.56% drop in the Dow Jones industrials on Tuesday, after Apple’s warnings about the fallout of the coronavirus already affecting guidance just offered a few weeks ago. Regardless of the influence over the selling, the major indexes had become overbought after hitting all-time highs just last week. Wednesday’s market indexes were higher as China reported the fewest number of new coronavirus cases since the end of January. Despite the indexes being more volatile into 2020, and despite the pressure of what will be a very difficult election cycle the rest of this year, many investors have yet to make any major changes to their holdings after the incredible gains from 2019.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to try 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 analyst calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on many 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 from Wednesday, February 19, 2020.
Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) was started with an Overweight rating and a $246 target price (versus a $213.76 prior close) at Atlantic Equities. It had a $222.23 consensus target price ahead of the call.
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Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $430 from $360 at UBS. The stock closed down 0.2% at $378.85 ahead of the call, with a $354.88 consensus target price.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) was reiterated as Neutral and its target price was raised to $90 from $87 at UBS. Piper Sandler reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $96 from $86. The stock closed down 1.2% at $84.79 ahead of the call, with a $90.31 consensus target price.
American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK) closed at $139.26 ahead of a slight earnings miss. Merrill Lynch maintained its Underperform rating and $128 price objective on the shares.
Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $130 from $125 (versus a $76.64 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CEIX) was started with a Buy rating and an $11 target price at Benchmark. Shares closed down 11.8% at $6.21 on Tuesday, and the consensus target price was $15.75 ahead of the call.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $88 from $87 (versus a $71.44 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Everbridge Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBG) closed down four cents at $91.84 a share, with a $97.64 consensus target price, ahead of earnings. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterated it as Buy and raised its target to $115 from $100. Stephens reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $115 from $105.
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Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Canaccord Genuity, and Credit Suisse downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform. Shares closed down 24.3% at $14.79 ahead of the call.
Guardant Health Inc. (NASDAQ: GH) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this cancer diagnostics provider that saw 181% revenue growth is partnering with biotech giant Amgen. Its shares most recently closed at $85.13, with a consensus price target of $114.00.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) was up 24% at $50.66 on Tuesday after news that Franklin Resources would buy the company. Citigroup downgraded Legg Mason to Neutral from Buy.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $360 from $300 at Bernstein. Shares closed up 2.3% at $296.57 ahead of the call, with a $301.15 consensus target price.
RealPage Inc. (NYSE: RP) was started with an Outperform rating and a $72 target price (versus a $61.66 close) at Robert W. Baird.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. Shares closed down 1.5% at $111.41 ahead of the call, and the consensus target price is still up at $143.12.
Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $217 from $192 at Wedbush, and the firm still has it on the Best Ideas List.
Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) was reiterated as Buy and its target was raised to $56 from $52 at Argus. It closed up 2.4% at $51.14 ahead of the call, with a $56.88 consensus target price.
Tailored Brands Inc. (NYSE: TLRD) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock again. The firm said that the retail apocalypse has claimed another of the dying brick-and-mortar group. Shares last closed at $4.03 and have a consensus price target of $6.30.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $928 at Piper Sandler, with the call talking up its push into new areas around clean energy.
Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was maintained as Buy at Mizuho, but the firm lowered its target price to $27 from $29 (versus a $21.49 close).
Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was reiterated with a Buy rating and its price objective was raised to $175 from $160 (versus a $151.74 close) at Merrill Lynch.
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Eight stocks pay dividend yields of 8% to over 10% and may still have upside ahead.
Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included AbbVie, Apple, Arconic, CenturyLink, eHealth, Nvidia, Salesforce.com, Tesla, Teva Pharmaceutical and many more.
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