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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Analog Devices, Barracuda, Gap, Level 3, Petrobras, Autodesk, HSBC and Many More

Stocks were indicating big gains on Wednesday morning. As we keep seeing, investors show interest in stocks when they see bargains. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning in order to find new trading and investing ideas for its readers. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was raised to Buy from Neutral after closing at $54.05 at Citigroup. It has a consensus analyst target of $67.56 and a 52-week trading range of $42.57 to $68.97.

Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE: CUDA) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was slashed to $20 from $40 (versus a $23.55 prior close) at Piper Jaffray. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $41.21 and has a 52-week range of $21.85 to $46.78. The problem here is that shares were last seen down over 20% around $17.70 after its sales missed expectations.

Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) has negative news after the head of the Old Navy unit is stepping down, and shares were indicated down 7% on Wednesday morning at $28.25. The stock was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $25 price target at UBS. Mizuho also cut its rating to Underperform with a $25 price target.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $57 price target (versus a $41.64 close) at UBS. The consensus analyst price target is $60.47, and the 52-week range is $37.61 to $57.08.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, was started as a very dismal Underperform at Macquarie. Petrobras American depositary shares closed at $3.89 and have a 52-week range of $3.72 to $17.64.

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Additional analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Wednesday included the following:

Abengoa Yield PLC (NYSE: ABY) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was cut to $23 from $46 (versus a $16.40 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was maintained as Buy after the analyst day observations and highlights at Canaccord Genuity, but the price target was lowered to $60 from $65.

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets.

Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR) was started as Outperform with a $93 price target (versus an $83.21 close) at Leerink.

Genuine Parts Co. (NYSE: GPC) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with an $83 price target (versus an $82.54 close) at Goldman Sachs.

HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HSBC) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Lantheus Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LNTH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

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Madison Square Garden Co. (NYSE: MSG) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Post Holdings Inc. (NYSE: POST) was raised to Buy from Neutral by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the $5 price target was slashed to $1.50 (versus a $1.67 close) at Jefferies.

Signature Bank (NASDAQ: SBNY) was started as Outperform with a $168 price target (versus a $135.86 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Sterling Bancorp. (NYSE: STL) was started as Outperform with an $18 price target (versus a $14.71 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) was started as Neutral with a $42.00 price objective (versus a $29.75 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the price target was cut to $90 from $100.

ALSO READ: Argus Sees 3 Top Health and Biotech Stocks as Oversold

In case you missed Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Ambarella, Apple, Bunge, McDonald’s, Micron Technology, Occidental Petroleum and over a dozen more companies.

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