24/7 Wall St. » AFL

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, CRZO, EBAY, EJ, FSLR, HAIN, LULU, PCAR, RCI, CRM, SI, SRDX, SYMC)

Administrator — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:45:23 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Friday. No analyst calls will be made on Monday in the United States as it is a market holiday in observance of Memorial Day.

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Maintained Buy but cut target price down from $75 to $63 at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO) Reinstated as Neutral with $30 target at Credit Suisse.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Maintained Buy with $44 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

E-House China Holdings Limited (NYSE: EJ) Reinstated as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Reiterated Buy with $30 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) Started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphreys.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

PACCAR (NASDAQ: PCAR) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Rogers Communications (NYSE: RCI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) Maintained Neutral with $20 target at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Here were Thursday’s Five Highly Unusual Upgrades and Downgrades which really stood out or which moved stocks.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, CRM, CRZO, EBAY, EJ, FSLR, HAIN, LULU, PCAR, RCI, SI, SRDX, SYMC

Dividend Hikes Keep on Coming (AFL, APL, ABX, HEP, LMT, MMPC, NEM, EGOV)

Administrator — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:14:15 +0000

Wednesday was a major day for dividend hikes. We saw higher dividends and higher distributions from the following: AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL); Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL); Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX); Holly Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: HEP); Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT); Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC); Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM); and NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV)

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) boosted its dividend after beating earnings estimates. The payout went up by 10% to $0.33 EPS. The prior payout was $0.30.

Atlas Pipeline Partners LP (NYSE: APL) came in for the MLP lovers. It jacked its quarterly distribution by 15% to $0.54 per quarter from $0.47 per quarter.

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX) is loving high gold prices… It turned in a 25% hike to its dividend to $0.15 per quarter. This is still only a 1.25% dividend yield.

Holly Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: HEP) came through for the MLP faithful. The company slightly boosted its quarterly distribution payout to $0.875 per quarter. This may only be a penny per quarter per share but it is a continuous distribution hike with 28 straight hikes.

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) may be in the defense sector and tied to the age of austerity, but it sees enough earnings ahead to boost its payout: its dividend was jacked up by 33% to $1.00 per share for a yield of 5.2%.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) had a huge day with a 5.3% gain after it jacked up its dividend to $0.25 per quarter from $0.20 per quarter and even after the price jump its new dividend yield is almost 2.9%.

Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) came through with its higher payout due to gold prices. The gold leader hiked its dividend by 17% to $0.35 per share, which is more than double that of a year ago. The yield went from about 1.9% to 2.12%. That might not sound like much, but it is almost as high as the 10-year Treasury note.

NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV) has only paid special dividends if we look back at the payout history over the last few years. The company declared a special dividend of $0.25 for its shareholders. Since it is special, we are not tallying up an implied yield.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend Tagged: ABX, AFL, APL, EGOV, HEP, LMT, MMPC, NEM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AEG, AFL, ANDE, BCSI, BRCM, CSC, DNDN, ETR, ITRI, RRGB, UIL, WY)

Administrator — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:06:06 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning.

AEGON (NYSE: AEG) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
The Andersons, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCSI) Reiterated Underperform and cut target to $20 at BofA/ML.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Raised to Top Pick at FBR Capital Markets.
Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) Reiterated Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Maintained Underperform with $29 target at Credit Suisse.
Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ: RRGB) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
UIL Holdings Corp. (NYSE: UIL) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AEG, AFL, ANDE, BCSI, BRCM, CSC, DNDN, ETR, ITRI, RRGB, UIL, WY

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, CPLA, COO, HIG, IBM, IFF, LVS, MET, NUE, PAYX, UHS, SHI, KBH, LEN, RYL)

Administrator — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:11:20 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Reiterated Buy and $83 target at BofA/ML.
Capella Education Co. (NASDAQ: CPLA) maintained Underperform and as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
The Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) Reiterated Outperform and $70 target at Credit Suisse.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) Reiterated Buy and $54 target at Argus.
Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS) Reiterated Buy with $55 target at BofA/ML.

In a sector call, BofA/ML is raising estimates on earnings and orders for the first half of 2011 in DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN), and Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL). The firm maintained Buy ratings on each based on strong entry level buyers being active in the Spring.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, COO, CPLA, HIG, IBM, IFF, KBH, LEN, LVS, MET, NUE, PAYX, RYL, SHI, UHS

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: March 8 Coal Drop Hits Massey

247wallst — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:11:38 +0000

Bad press about Chevron (NYSE: CVX) rose on news that a federal judge would delay an $18 billion damage judgement made in Ecuador. Rite Aide was hit by poor press as the Supreme Court said it will not hear “pay for delay” drug settlements. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) closed part of its European trading desk. One of Massey Energy’s rivals bought a smaller firm. Note: The Flame Index scans thousands of news sites 24 hours per day and ranks companies getting the most negative press right now. The Flame Index Media Analysis Algorithm crunches the data for an up-to-the-minute ranking of the hardest-hit companies.

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
1	Chevron	CVX	37.166	+123	More news on $18 billion environment judgment
2	Rite Aid	RAD	32.556	+42	Supreme court rejects case that would have protected sales
3	J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	JPM	31.228	+48	Closes important trading desk
4	Target	TGT	25.368	+36	Concerns grow over cost of energy and impact on retail traffic
5	Intel	INTC	25.289	0	Increased competition from Nvidia in portable device market
6	Massey Energy	MEE	24.153	+726	Price of coal drops and rival makes good M&A deal
7	Goldman Sachs Group	GS	23.199	+12	Lingering concern about size of legal judgments for derivative instrument sales
8	Toyota Motor Corporation	TM	22.904	-4	High gas price will hurt dealer traffic
9	AFLAC	AFL	22.813	+14	Lands on Fortune’s most admired companies list
10	Symantec	SYMC	22.745	+652	Number of visible cyber-attacks increases.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: AFL, CVX, GS, INTC, JPM, MEE, RAD, SYMC, TGT, TM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, ALKS, AMLN, GD, GNW, HGSI, IPI, MGM, SNDK, SHAW, VRTX)

Administrator — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:20:57 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.
General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE: IPI) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Raised to Buy at Sterne Agee.
The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, ALKS, AMLN, GD, GNW, HGSI, IPI, MGM, SHAW, SNDK, VRTX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, T, BP, KMX, CL, DANG, GE, JBLU, NVDA, POT, PG, TRV, SVU, SOL)

Administrator — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:33:11 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) Cut to Neutral at UBS; Reiterated Buy at Argus.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research.
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) Started as Neutral with $30.40 target at Credit Suisse.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Raised to Buy with $26 target at Argus.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Cut to Hold at Soleil.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Raised to Neutral at Susquehanna.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) has seen target price objectives raised at Canaccord, UBS, Scotia, BMO and TD.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late yesterday call); Reiterated Buy at Argus and Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse this morning.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Zacks Ratings: SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) maintained Underperform as the Bear of the Day; ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) Raised to Outperform with $12.00 target as the Bull of the Day.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, BP, CL, DANG, GE, JBLU, KMX, NVDA, PG, POT, SOL, SVU, T, TRV

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, APOL, T, BAC, CAKE, EMC, ETFC, GD, GM, HGSI, ITT, JNPR, PCS, MU, MSFT, NDAQ, S, WLP)

Administrator — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:31:01 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms.

AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Reiterated Buy and raised estimates at Argus.
AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Removed from Top Pick Live List at Citigroup.
The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ: CAKE) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Neutral with $25 target at BofA/ML.
E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) Started as Buy at Argus.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Reiterated Underperform with $24 target at BofA/ML.
ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT) Reiterated Underperform but raised target to $66 from $58 at BofA/ML.
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Raised to Buy at ThinkEquity.
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Reiterated Buy and $16 target at Argus.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Raised to Outperform at Baird; Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Reiterated Outperform and $36 target at Credit Suisse.
Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Kept at Buy but Removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
WellPoint. Inc. (NYSE: WLP) Reiterated Outperform and $74 target at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFL, APOL, BAC, CAKE, EMC, ETFC, GD, GM, HGSI, ITT, JNPR, MSFT, MU, NDAQ, PCS, S, T, WLP

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AFL, ACF, BCS, DELL, D, FDX, HES, LULU, NICE, PGI, THC, UPS)

Administrator — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:09:41 +0000

These are some of the top analyst research calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street firms this Thursday morning:

AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
AmeriCredit Corp. (NYSE: ACF) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Barclays plc (NYSE: BCS) Lowered targets by RBS.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D) Raised to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Nice Systems Limited (NASDAQ: NICE) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE: PGI) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) Raised to Buy at UBS.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACF, AFL, BCS, D, DELL, FDX, HES, LULU, NICE, PGI, THC, UPS

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AFL, AAPL, AIZ, BBT, BUCY, DWA, HANS, BEE, TK, TXT, USB)

Administrator — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:26:26 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning:

Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Started as Buy at Stern Agee (late Monday call).
Assurant Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Bucyrus International (NASDAQ: BUCY) Maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Hansen Natural Corporation (NYSE: HANS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Strategic Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: BEE) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

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Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, AFL, AIZ, BBT, BEE, BUCY, DWA, HANS, TK, TXT, USB