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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Bankrate, FireEye, First Data, Pier 1, Regions, Stratasys, Target, Wal-Mart, ZS Pharma and More
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Stocks were lower on Monday to start off the week, mainly on overseas weakness. Investors have shown time and again for four years now that they are willing to buy any pullback, and they are looking for new opportunities and hidden value. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.
Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a price target of $18.00 (versus a $14.47 prior close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Bankrate has a consensus analyst target price of $13.29 and a 52-week trading range of $8.87 to $15.80.
FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was maintained as Outperform at Imperial Capital, but the firm slashed the target price to $32 from $55 after last week’s hugely disappointing guidance. FireEye is one of the top companies that burned their shareholders last week and it caught many key analyst downgrades and target cuts.
First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) was started as Outperform and the price target was set at $21 at Cowen. Wells Fargo started First Data as Outperform, Evercore ISI started it as Buy and Barclays started coverage as Overweight. First Data closed at $17.08, within its post-IPO range of $14.99 to $17.30.
Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) was started with a Sell rating and was given a price target of $7.00 (versus an $8.19 close) at UBS. Pier 1 has a consensus price target of $10.41 and a 52-week range of $6.52 to $17.52.
Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with an $11 price target (versus a $10.13 close) at Deutsche Bank. It has a consensus price target of $10.85 and a 52-week range of $8.54 to $10.87.
Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $28 from $40 (versus a $27.59 close) at Deutsche Bank. Stratasys has a consensus price target of $28.94 and a 52-week range of $24.80 to $106.86.
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Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was started as Buy with an $88 price target (versus a $77.22 close) at Citigroup. Target has a consensus analyst price target of $84.76 and a 52-week range of $64.14 to $85.81.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) started as Neutral with a $60 price target (versus a $58.78 close) at Citigroup. Wal-Mart has a consensus price target of $62.95 and a 52-week range of $56.77 to $90.97.
ZS Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ZSPH) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight, but the price target was raised to $90 from $76 (versus an $89.04 close) at Morgan Stanley. JPMorgan downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight but raised its target to $90 from $75. This is after a 40% gain on Friday, and it was one of our top biopharma movers that now cannot be ignored.
Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Monday were in the following:
Amplify Snack Brands Inc. (NYSE: BETR) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $16.00 price target (versus a prior $13.00 target and a $12.38 close) at Credit Suisse.
CPI Card Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PMTS) was started as Buy with a $16 price target (versus an $11.90 close) at Goldman Sachs.
Heritage Oaks Bancorp (NASDAQ: HEOP) was raised to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
Inphi Corp. (NASDAQ: IPHI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $31 price target (versus a $31.23 close) at Northland Securities.
KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $14 from $16 (versus a $13.39 close) at Deutsche Bank.
LendingTree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE) was started as Buy with a $150 price target (versus a $124.97 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
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News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RH) was started as Buy at UBS.
RSP Permian Inc. (NYSE: RSPP) was started as Buy with a $33.00 price target (versus a $26.96 close) at Canaccord Genuity.
South Jersey Industries Inc. (NYSE: SJI) was reiterated as Buy with a $30 fair value estimate (versus a $24.44 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) was maintained as Neutral with a $68.00 fair value estimate (versus a $77.42 close) at Janney Capital Markets.
Vascular Biogenics Ltd. (NASDAQ: VBLT) was started as Overweight with a $14 price target (versus a $5.95 close) at Piper Jaffray.
24/7 Wall St. has also tracked down an analyst montage of recent IPOs that could still have big potential upside. Also, is the Hewlett-Packard breakup now a bargain?
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