Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, FireEye, MetLife, Micron, Symantec and More

Stocks were indicated higher on Monday morning on hopes that Greece may get a deal done. The one trend which has remained constant over the last three and a half years has been that investors want to buy every single pullback. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst and brokerage research reports each morning of the week to find value and upside or new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and other analyst calls are about stocks to sell or stocks to avoid.

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

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $12 price target (versus $11.93 close) at Sterne Agee. Alcoa’s consensus price target is $16.91 and its 52-week range is $11.85 to $17.75.

FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. FireEye has a consensus price target of $50.33 and a 52-week range of $24.81 to $55.33.

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $68.00 (versus $56.23 close) at RBC Capital Markets. MetLife has a consensus target price of $58.67 and a 52-week range of $46.10 to $57.57.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was started as Outperform with a price target of $34.00 at Cowen & Co. Micron was also downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the price target is now $19.00 from $27.00. Micron’s consensus price target was $36.42, and this followed one upgrade and one downgrade last week. Micron’s 52-week range is $23.70 to $36.59.

Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS. This is ahead of Symantec’s split. Symantec has a consensus price target of $25.64 and a 52-week range of $21.66 to $27.32.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stocks Called to Rise 50% to 100%

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen this Monday were as follows:

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $55.00 price target (versus $52.68 close) at JPMorgan.

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKBA) was started as Market Outperform with a price target of $24.00 (versus $7.99 close) at JMP Securities.

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) was started as Buy with a $16.00 fair value estimate (raised from $15.00 and versus $13.49 close) at Janney Capital Markets. The firm says that Amicus is set to emerge in orphan diseases.

Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE) had a bad week after falling to $11.19 after being at almost $14.00. Now Needham & Co. is starting it as Buy with a $14.00 price target. The consensus price target is $12.90, and Bankrate’s 52-week range is $9.39 to $18.19.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

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Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $98.00 (versus $80.48 close) at Nomura.

Ignyta, Inc. (NASDAQ: RXDX) was started as Overweight with a $34 price target (versus $16.73 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $17.00 price target (versus $12.89 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ: ONCS) was started as Buy with a price target of $25.00 (versus $6.96 close) at H.C. Wainwright & Co. OncoSec has a 52-week range of $4.00 to $13.20 and a tiny market cap of $103 million.

Polycom, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCM) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at William Blair.

Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $31.00 price target (versus $28.08 close) at Raymond James.

Radius Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDUS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group.

TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) was started as Buy with a price target of $43.00 (versus $37.60 close) at Evercore ISI.

WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target of $25.00 (versus $21.97 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

ALSO READ: 10 Stocks to Own for the Next Decade

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of BioMarin, BP, Micron, Vonage, Finisar, ConEd, Red Hat and over a dozen more companies.

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