Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, AEP, ANGI, Disney, DuPont, Gilead, Microsoft, Peloton, Shopify, Trivago and More

Investing

Published: April 20, 2020 9:00 am

Last Updated: April 20, 2020 9:11 am

Stocks traded handily lower Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average futures down 2% and S&P 500 futures down about 1.8%. Oil’s sharp drop to lows comes as the world is running out of storage to hold the oil. Investors have been caught off guard in many of the moves in recent weeks, and now they are looking for new ideas about how to be best positioned for the rest of 2020.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some of analyst calls cover stocks to buy while some of the analyst reports cover stocks to sell or avoid. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

Many upgrades, downgrades, reiterations and initiations are still taking place, but one trend is that analysts have been lowering their target prices in most companies, even if they are maintaining their prior ratings. Still, many traditional upgrades and reiterations happen as if things were still close to normal. Remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

These are the top analyst calls tracked for Monday, April 20, 2020.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform and its price target was raised to $93 from $79 at RBC Capital Markets. The stock closed up almost 2% at $83.45 a share on Friday, with a $92.62 consensus price target.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) was started with an Outperform rating and a $120 price target at Evercore ISI.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was up 31% to $3.20 on Friday, but that is still well down from a 52-week high of $15.96. B. Riley FBR upgraded it to Neutral from Sell.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) was raised to Outperform from In-Line but its price target was lowered to $95 from $103 (versus an $86.38 prior close) at Evercore ISI. AEP shares closed at $86.38 on Friday, with a $96.88 consensus price target.

ANGI Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was cut to $7 from $9 (versus a $5.85 close, after a 6.5% gain) at Nomura/Instinet.

ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that this stock has seen estimates fall, as well as the price, and so has the valuation. Shares last closed at $38.69 and have a consensus price target of $51.00.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (NYSE: BAH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Cedar Fair L.P. (NYSE: FUN) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $33 from $42 (versus a $23.75 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform and its price target was lowered to $17 from $121 (versus a $16.53 close) at Evercore ISI. The shares had a $20.00 consensus price target.

DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE) was downgraded to In-Line from Outperform and its price target was lowered to $120 from $139 (versus a $105.85 close) at Evercore ISI. The stock had a $125.21 consensus price target.

DuPont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE: DD) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $55 price target (versus a $38.36 close) at JPMorgan.

Element Solutions Inc. (NYSE: ESI) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $11 from $10 at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. It closed up 4.1% at $8.82 on Friday, with an $11.29 consensus price target.

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Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) was downgraded to Underperform from In-Line at Evercore ISI Group.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) was up over 9% at $83.99 on Friday on reports of its drug to treat COVID-19 looked promising. BMO Capital Markets downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform, and Wells Fargo lowered its Overweight rating to Equal Weight. Shares were down 2.1% at $82.20 on Monday, with a prior $75.32 consensus price target.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $296 from $304 at Nomura/Instinet. Shares closed up 2.6% at $223.72 on Friday, with a $274.83 consensus price target.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was reiterated as Outperform with a $210 price target at Wedbush Securities, which noted that its Azure and additional cloud growth trajectory are the main focus heading into earnings. Microsoft closed up almost 1% at $178.60, and it had a $186.19 consensus price target.

MYR Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MYRG) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that the growth that this stock has posted lately is great but you will love the valuation. Shares most recently closed at $25.36, with a consensus price target of $34.25.

Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $26 price target (versus a $33.49 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $17 from $25 (versus a $10.83 close, after a 17% gain) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) has seen its shares surge all the way back up to $590 during the three-week recovery. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $445 price target, noting that the company’s great news and surging traffic during the coronavirus is priced in after the huge run higher.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) was maintained as Overweight but its price target was lowered to $23 from $28 (versus a $15.59 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

STORE Capital Corp. (NYSE: STOR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and its price target was slashed to $15 from $36 (versus a $16.96 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Trivago N.V. (NASDAQ: TRVG) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a $9 price target (versus an $8.89 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, with the firm noting that the pandemic is hurting almost all aspects of its daily business.

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Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alibaba, Apple, Arch Coal, BlackRock, Cisco Systems, ConocoPhillips, CSX, KeyCorp, Netflix, Qualcomm, Rite Aid, United Parcel Service and many more.

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