Thursday Afternoon’s Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Occidental Petroleum, Pfizer, Yum! Brands and More

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By Chris Lange Published
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Thursday Afternoon’s Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Occidental Petroleum, Pfizer, Yum! Brands and More

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Markets opened lower for the first time in three days, giving back some of the gains from this most recent rally. This comes despite the most recent jobless number reaching the lowest level in more than five decades. Jobless claims came in at 184,000, versus the consensus estimate of 220,000. While this is a step in the right direction, there are still other facets to the economy that need to get up to speed.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Thursday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on AutoZone, Edward’s Lifesciences, FuboTV, Phillips 66, Southwest Airlines and more.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV | ABBV Price Prediction): Wells Fargo resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and a $165 price target. Shares were last seen near $123 on Thursday, and they have a 52-week range of $101.55 to $123.47.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL): Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to an Underweight rating from Equal Weight and cut the $123 price target to $105. The consensus price target is $132.79, and shares were trading near $108 apiece.

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Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Wells Fargo resumed coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $210 price target. Shares were trading around $213 on Thursday, and the 52-week range is $198.64 to $276.69.

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI): JPMorgan downgraded the shares to Underweight from Neutral and has a $19 price target. Shares were trading around $16 on Thursday, and the consensus target price is $18.33.

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KNX): Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $77 from $71. Shares were last seen near $61 on Thursday, and they have a 52-week range of $39.17 to $61.45.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY): JPMorgan’s upgrade to Neutral from Underweight included a price target hike to $39 from $37. Shares were trading around $30 on Thursday, and the consensus target price is $40.48.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE): Wells Fargo started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $60 price target. The 52-week trading range is $33.36 to $55.70, and shares were last seen near $53.

Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: RETA): Robert Baird downgraded it to Neutral from Outperform and slashed the $110 price target to $37. Also, SVB Leerink downgraded it from Outperform to Market Perform with a $35 price target. Shares were trading around $33 on Thursday, and the 52-week trading range is $31.00 to $153.41.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR): JPMorgan downgraded the stock to Underweight from Neutral with a $27 price target. The 52-week trading range is $19.75 to $57.52, and the share price was near $24.

Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO): Barclays lifted its Equal Weight rating to Overweight and has a $375 price target. Shares were trading near $276 on Thursday, and the consensus price target is $424.84.

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to Equal Weight from Underweight includes a price target raise to $395 from $297. The 52-week trading range is $217.39 to $414.99, and shares were last seen near $357.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM): The Atlantic Equities downgrade was to Buy from Strong Buy, and the firm cut the $175 price target to $158. Shares were trading around $132 on Thursday, and the 52-week range is $101.18 to $135.77.

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Shares of five top established and mature biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have been hit hard and are offering some of the best entry points in months. The stocks also are rated Buy at top Wall Street firms and come with dividends.

Also, see why some analysts think Stitch Fix has bottomed.

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Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

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