Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AGCO, Celgene, Devon Energy, JD.com, Microsoft, SanDisk, Crocs, Illumina and Many More

October 1, 2015 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearStocks were indicated higher on Thursday after big gains on Wednesday, just more proof that investors want to buy the dips. After all, they have been doing it for four years now. Still, this was the first time in that long that stocks fell more than 10%.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, and other calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid. These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

AGCO Corp. (NYSE: AGCO) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS, and the price target was cut to $39 from $52 (versus a $46.63 prior close). AGCO has a consensus price target of $49.00 and a 52-week trading range of $41.56 to $57.90.

Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ: CELG) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $152 price target (versus a $108.17 close) at JPMorgan. Celgene has a consensus price target of $149.59 and a 52-week range of $83.16 to $140.72.

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $58 price target (versus a $37.09 close) at Bernstein. Devon’s consensus price target is $60.59, and the 52-week range is $36.01 to $70.48.

JD.Com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $32 price target (versus a $26.06 close) at Deutsche Bank. The 52-week trading range is $21.55 to $38.00.

ALSO READ: 5 High-Dividend Blue Chip Stocks on Sale After Market Sell-Off

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform and the price objective was raised to $46 from $39 (versus a $44.26 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Microsoft has a consensus analyst price target of $50.17 and a 52-week range of $39.72 to $50.05.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $75 price target (versus a $54.33 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus analyst price target is $64.72. The 52-week range is $44.28 to $106.64.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from this Thursday were seen in the following:

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: SAN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was cut to $12 from $17 (versus a $12.93 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Diageo PLC (NYSE: DEO) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (NYSE: HII) was started as Market Perform with a $117 price target (versus a $107.15 close) at Cowen.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $185 from $225 (versus a $175.82 close) at Leerink. The long and short of the matter is that Leerink doesn’t see a snapback rally, despite a big sell-off, due to an unclear next driving force.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $49 from $45 (versus a $39.71 close) at B. Riley.

ALSO READ: Stifel Says Not to Wait for Oil to Bottom: 4 Stocks to Buy Right Now

Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO) was started as Buy at Citigroup.

Photronics Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAB) was started as Buy with a $12 price target (versus a $9.06 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS) was raised to Overweight from Sector Weight with a $145 price target (versus a $124.81 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

In case you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of Analog Devices, Barracuda Networks, Gap, Level 3 Communications, Petrobras, Autodesk, HSBC and over a dozen more companies.

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