The three major equity indexes were all indicated to open up by less than 1% on Monday after Chinese manufacturing data was positive in July. With an election coming up, and what is still a very deep recession, investors need to be considering how they want their assets positioned for the second half of 2020 and as 2021 comes into focus.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new ideas for long-term investors and short-term traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision. Consensus analyst target prices are from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst calls we have seen on Monday, August 3, 2020.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was maintained as Outperform and its target price was raised to $127 from $125 at RBC Capital Markets.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (NYSE: BAH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and its target price was lowered to $80 from $84 (versus an $81.76 prior close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Central Garden & Pet Co. (NASDAQ: CENT) was reiterated as Overweight and its target was raised to $40 from $38 (versus a $37.86 close) at KeyBanc Capital markets.

DuPont de Nemour Inc. (NYSE: DD) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was reiterated as Buy and its price target was raised to $130 from $88 at Needham.

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $100 price target (versus an $81.01 close) at BTIG. It had a $97.19 prior consensus target price.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was maintained as Underperform but its price target was raised to $50 from $45 at RBC Capital Markets.

Floor & Decor Holdings Inc. (NYSE: FND) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its price objective was raised to $77 from $59 (versus a $65.90 close) at BofA Securities.

Harpoon Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HARP) closed down 3.8% at $11.01 on Friday, but it was just added to the Best Ideas List at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting that it is developing a number of therapeutics to treat cancers from its TriTACs next-generation biospecific platform that should provide critical advantages over current approaches.

Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. (NYSE: HGV) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that hotels are not hot in COVID hot spots. Shares last closed at $20.30 and have a consensus price target of $24.58.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) closed up almost 10% at $171.85 on Friday amid private equity buyout rumors. JPMorgan upgraded it to Neutral from Underweight and raised its price target to $169 from $142. The prior consensus target price was $167.78.

Macrogenics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGNX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $340 from $300 (versus a $308.53 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Mastercard had a $339.73 consensus target price.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was raised to Buy from Neutral and its target price was raised to $105 from $91 (versus an $80.24 close) at Goldman Sachs. Merck had a $93 consensus target price.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was last seen up 2.6% at $210.49 on Monday morning as a reaction to pending merger discussions with TikTok. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating with a $260 price target.

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (NYSE: OHI) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Phillips 66 Partners L.P. (NYSE: PSXP) was maintained as Outperform but its price target was cut to $40 from $51 (versus a $27.80 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS) was up over 36% at $34.29 on Friday after beating earnings and showing strong user growth. Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $39 from $31. Rosenblatt reiterated it as Neutral but raised its target price to $30 from $21. UBS upgraded it to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $42 from $23.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $135 target at Bernstein, after a slew of analysts raised their targets late last week after solid earnings and a deal with Huawei.

SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at JMP Securities. The stock was down almost 1% at $173.50 on Monday morning, and its consensus target price was $139.14 ahead of the call.

Stellus Capital Investment Corp. (NYSE: SCM) was maintained as Neutral but its price target was raised to $10.50 from $9.50 (versus a $7.74 close) at Janney.

Turning Point Brands Inc. (NYSE: TPB) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that investors have been dipping into profits with this stock. Shares most recently closed at $32.88 and have a consensus price target of $42.67.

VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was reiterated as Outperform and its target price was raised to $66 from $60 at RBC Capital Markets.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) was reiterated as Overweight and its target price was raised to $215 from $190 (versus a $190.40 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Visa had a $219.38 consensus target price.

WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) was reiterated as Outperform and its price target was raised to $33 from $30 (versus a $27.81 close) at RBC Capital Markets. D.A. Davidson downgraded it to Neutral from Buy.

Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) was raised to Buy from Hold and its price target was raised to $107 from $80 (versus a $91.05 close) at Deutsche Bank.

These are some of the top high-profile and well-known stocks that are being targeted by short-selling hedge funds, and these were the top mostly large caps that surged after earnings and scored major upgrades last week.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Baidu, Comcast, Electronic Arts, Ford and Facebook.

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