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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AK Steel, Carnival, Great Plains Energy, National Oilwell Varco, Teradata and More

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Stocks were indicated marginally lower on Monday, marking the start of the fourth quarter. Investors have faced many pressures and worries of late, but they have proven over and over that they will still buy stocks after any real weakness. Those same investors also have continued to demonstrate that they are looking for new ideas to generate income or gains ahead.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and some reports feature stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday morning:

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was raised to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank. Shares closed down 2.2% at $4.83 on Friday, in a 52-week trading range of $1.64 to $7.07. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $5.40.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was started with a Buy rating and given a $60 price target (versus a $48.82 prior close) at HSBC. It has a 52-week range of $40.52 to $55.77.

Great Plains Energy Inc. (NYSE: GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $32 price objective (versus $a 27.29 close) at Merrill Lynch. It has a 52-week range of $25.44 to $32.74 and a consensus price target of $30.86.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $30 price target (versus a $36.74 close) at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $25.74 to $42.62. The consensus price target is $32.03.

Teradata Corp.  (NYSE: TDC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral and the price target was cut to $27 from $29 at UBS. The stock closed up 2.9% at $31.00 on Friday and was indicated down 2.1% at $30.35 on Monday. The 52-week range is $21.98 to $33.09, and the consensus price target is $28.59.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $96 price target (versus a $93.75 close) at Robert W. Baird.

Coeur Mining Inc. (NYSE: CDE) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $11.00 from $7.50 (versus an $11.83 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with an $81 price target (versus an $85.22 close) at UBS.

Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $28 price objective (versus a $23.50 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Fortress Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: FBIO) was started with a Buy rating and given a $9 price target, up just over 200% from the prior $2.97 close, at Roth Capital. The company has a mere $144 million market cap.

FirstCash Inc. (NYSE: FCFS) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $59 from $52 (versus a $47.08 close) at Janney.

LogMeIn Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM) was raised to Overweight from Underweight and the price target was raised to $105 from $82 (versus a $90.39 close) at Barclays.

Ocalro Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLR) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned an $11.25 price target (versus an $8.55 close) at Jefferies.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was set at $20 (versus a $17.62 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE: RDC) was downgraded to Sell from Hold and the price target was cut to $11 from $16 (versus a $15.16 close) at Societe Generale.

Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE: TCK) was raised to Hold from Sell and the price target was raised to $20.00 from $11.50 (versus an $18.03 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: WASH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $41 price target (versus a $40.22 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Coach, Encana, NXP Semiconductors, Sina, Under Armour and over a dozen more.

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