Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Cliffs, Dendreon, Magna, Santander, SunEdison and More

March 4, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks are trying to stage a post-Ukraine recovery on Tuesday. This week only reminds most investors that, even if the markets keep challenging new highs, they may have to protect themselves against that next major sell-off. 24/7 Wall St. looks over dozens of Wall Street analyst research reports each morning for new ideas. Some are stocks to buy and some are stocks to sell. These are this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $52 from $36 at Credit Suisse.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) was downgraded to Sell from and already cautious Neutral rating at UBS.

Avery Dennison Corp. (NYSE: AVY) was added to the US 1 list of high-conviction stock ideas at Merrill Lynch, based on above-average earnings growth yet trading at a discounted earnings multiple.

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) was started with a Sell rating at UBS.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was raised to Buy with an $84 price target at Argus.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) were both started as Neutral by UBS.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was started as Buy at UBS.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein, and Credit Suisse maintained its Neutral rating but raised the estimates.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) was started as Buy with a $20 price target (versus a $15.04 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Magna International Inc. (NYSE: MGA) rose handily after earnings on Monday, a day when the broader market was trading lower. Its shares were raised to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan, and they were raised to Neutral from Sell by Goldman Sachs.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was started as Neutral at UBS.

SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $24 price target at Morgan Stanley.

Solazyme Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings (NYSE: SC) saw its quiet period end. Goldman Sachs started it with a Neutral rating and RBC Capital Markets assigned a Sector Perform rating. Citigroup and UBS assigned Buy ratings. Wells Fargo and Credit Suisse assigned Outperform ratings.

21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) was removed from the U.S. Focus List a Credit Suisse.

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