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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Clovis, Deere, JC Penney, Wynn, Yum and More

Stocks were indicated marginally higher on Friday, but the S&P 500 had an all-time high close on Thursday. Investors have proven over and over that they want to buy stocks on weakness, and they have bought literally every single pullback for almost four years now. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new trading and investment ideas. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw its iPhone 6 sales targets raised handily at UBS late Thursday. The firm said it saw 51.1 million units for the current quarter, above the 45 million units that most analysts are expecting. While this call was cited late in the day, most of Apple’s gains may have been tied to the S&P 500 hitting an all-time high close.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $100 at Piper Jaffray. This was also included in our five ASCO cancer winners and losers on Thursday, with a gain of more than 16% on the day.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral and the price target was cut to $84 from $89 at JPMorgan. Deere’s consensus price target is $85.59, and its 52-week range is $78.88 to $93.78.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform with a price target of $8.00 (versus a $8.04 close) at BMO Capital Markets.

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Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays, but the firm’s price target was slashed to $105 from $160 in the call, versus a $108.79 close. Wynn has a consensus price target of $133.65, and its shares have a 52-week trading range of $108.27 to $220.50.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $108 price target (versus a $90.02 close) at JPMorgan. What stood out about this call was that the firm sees a better chance of it being broken up and not being defensive against activist investors like many expected.

Additional key analyst upgrades and downgrades were in the following companies:

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was started as Overweight with a price target of $91 (versus a $79.43 close) at JPMorgan.

Advaxis Inc. (NASDAQ: ADXS) was started as Buy and with a $27 price target (versus a $18.97 close) at Jefferies.

Aspen Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $50 price target (versus a $43.34 close) at Pacific Crest.

Assurant Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) was started as Buy with a price target of $72 (versus a $64.92 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Cedar Fair L.P. (NYSE: FUN) was started as Outperform with a $69 price target (versus a $58.03 close) at Wedbush.

Connecticut Water Service Inc. (NASDAQ: CTWS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIM) was started Overweight with an $11.50 price target (versus a $9.05 close) at Stephens. This was just a day after it was started as Buy with a fair value estimate of $11.00 (versus a $9.25 close on the prior day) at Janney Capital Markets.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $116 (versus a $106.44 close) at Cowen.

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Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ: HZNP) was started as Buy with a price target of $37 (versus a $28.40 close) at Jefferies.

Immune Design Corp. (NASDAQ: IMDZ) was started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SGNT) was started as Buy with an $80 price target (versus a $58.29 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Shire PLC (NASDAQ: SHPG) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) was started as Outperform with a $58 price target (versus a $48.89 close) at Wedbush. The consensus price target is $55.60, and the 52-week range is $31.77 to $51.09.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $119 (versus a $100.67 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Veracyte Inc. (NASDAQ: VCYT) was maintained as Neutral at Janney Capital Markets. What stood out was that the firm has a fair value estimate of $11.00, which is handily higher than the $8.65 prior closing price. Keep in mind that its 52-week range is $6.01 to $18.00, and the company has been public only since late in 2013.

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Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) was started on the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs. The firm gave a $50 price target (versus a $44.95 close). Voya’s consensus price target is $48.73, and the highest price target is $53.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations, they included Atmel, BlackBerry, Cisco Systems, Ctrip.com, CarMax, AOL and more than a dozen other companies.

 

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