Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: JDSU, JD.com, Palo Alto, Petrobras, SeaWorld, Twitter, Yandex and More

September 11, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were weak on Thursday morning, and the markets are showing that they can take at least a little bit of a breather. What is interesting is that investors are still looking for opportunities with stocks effectively just under all-time highs. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports feature stocks to buy, but others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations covered by 24/7 Wall St.

CBOE Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) was started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) was started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Express Scripts Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: ESRX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $75 price target (versus a $75.05 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was started with a Hold at Deutsche Bank.

JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was started with a Buy rating at Brean Capital.

JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets, with a price target hike to $18 from $11. This may be the first of several positives after its proposed breakup.

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Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV) was started as Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $23.62 close) at Jefferies.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NSM) was started as Equal Weight at Barclays.

Omnicare Inc. (NYSE: OCR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $76 price target (versus $62.49 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE: PANW) was started as Buy with a $120 price target (versus a $98.75 close) at Roth Capital.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, was started as Outperform at Cowen.

SeaWorld Entertainement Inc. (NYSE: SEAS) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was started as Buy with a $62 price target (versus a $52.91 close) at Canaccord Genuity, on the heels of a UBS upgrade on Wednesday.

Walter Investment Management Corp. (NYSE: WAC) was started as Underweight with a $22 price target (versus a $24.70 close) at Barclays.

Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSL) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $1.50 price target (versus $a 0.68 close) at B. Riley.

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Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) was started with a Buy rating and given a $38 price target (versus a $30.80 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Netflix, eBay, GT Advanced Technology, Noodles & Co., Twitter and a dozen more.

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