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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Aflac, Commercial Metals, ConocoPhillips, Nio, Occidental, Royal Dutch Shell, Target, Wells Fargo and more

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The futures traded higher on Tuesday morning as all eyes on Wall Street shift away from the political scene and back to fourth-quarter earnings, which start coming in later this week. With all of the major indexes and the Russell 2000 still trading close to all-time highs, it makes sense for investors to start building some cash reserves while repositioning portfolios for 2021, as a pullback could be in the offing.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, January 12, 2021.

Acacia Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) was resumed in coverage at Rosenblatt with a Buy rating, and the analysts also lifted the price target to $110. The Wall Street consensus target is much lower at $80 and the stock closed Monday at $82.09, up 3% on the day.

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) was raised at Morgan Stanley from Equal Weight to Buy with a $53 price target. That compares with a lower consensus target of $44.45. The stock closed Monday trading at $44.51. Shares were up over 3% in Tuesday’s premarket.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was downgraded at JPMorgan from Outperform to Neutral with a $115 price target. The $106 consensus target is less than Monday’s close at $114.43.

Bloom Energy Inc. (NYSE: BE) was downgraded at Morgan Stanley from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $34 price objective. The consensus price target is $22.69, and the shares closed Monday at $34.58.

Commercial Metals Co. (NYSE: CMC) was downgraded at BofA Securities from Neutral to Underperform with a $21 price target. The consensus target is $22.29. The last trade on Monday came in at $21.66.

Commvault Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CVLT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler, which also lifted the price target to $68. The $42.83 consensus target compares with Monday’s final print of $56.43.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised from Neutral to Buy with a $56 target at Mizuho. The consensus target is $51.39, and the closing trade Monday was at $45.36.

Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was raised from Equal Weight to Overweight with an $80 price target at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The consensus target is higher at $83.26. The stock was last seen on Monday at $72.67.

Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that the coronavirus has devastated the global travel industry and this stock has suffered. Shares last closed at $142.96 but have a consensus price target of $122.34.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, which also raised the price target to $235. The consensus target is $210.29. The shares closed Monday’s trading at $208.07.


908 Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: MASS) was started with an Outperform rating at Cowen. The company had a red-hot IPO back in December, and its shares have traded between $43.25 and $74 since then. The stock was last seen on Monday at $56.63, after a gain of over 7%.

Nio Ltd. (NYSE: NIO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, where the analysts actually raised the price target on the electric vehicle company to $68.30. It has just a $46.21 consensus price objective. The shares were last seen at $62.70, after rising over 6% on Monday.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Mizuho, which also moved the target price to $26. The consensus target is just $16.88. The last trade on Monday was reported at $20.08.

ODP Corp. (NYSE: ODP) was raised at JPMorgan from Underweight to Neutral with a $40 price target. The parent company of Office Depot has received a $2.1 billion buyout offer from Staples. The consensus target is $35. The stock closed Monday at $44.14, up almost 20% on the news.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, which also boosted the target to $117. The lower $95.63 consensus target is above the $92.71 close on Monday.

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) was started with a Buy rating and a $60 price target at Truist Securities. The consensus target is much lower at $39.11. The last trade on Monday came in at $53.97. The shares were up over 13% in premarket action

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) was started in coverage with a Buy rating and a $51 price target at Mizuho. The consensus target for the integrated energy leader is $45.77. The stock closed Monday at $40.26.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM) was raised from Market Perform to Outperform with a $149 price objective at Bernstein. The consensus target is $98.45. The shares were last seen on Monday at $122.60.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which pointed out that the retail behemoth has surged to new records to start 2021. Shares most recently closed at $195.28 and have a consensus price target of $184.69.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS. The bank stock has traded in a 52-week range of $20.76 to $50.74, and it has a $35.15 consensus price target. The last trade on Monday hit the tape at $33.24.


BofA Securities has made some big changes to its US 1 list of top stock recommendations. Five new stocks on the list could be great additions to long-term growth portfolios.

Monday morning’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Airbnb, Archer Daniels Midland, ContextLogic, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Exxon Mobile, Kinder Morgan, Salesforce.com and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Analyst calls made later in the day included American Airlines, Bank of America, Nio, Palantir and more.

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