Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Boeing, CVS, DuPont, Fitbit, LifeLock, Microsoft, NXP Semiconductors, Red Hat, Under Armour and Many More

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Stocks were indicated lower on Friday after Thursday’s sell-off. While December and 2015 have proven to be quite choppy, the reality is that investors have bought every single large pullback. The reasons for buying may be different each time, but the outcome has been the same.

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

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. Boeing closed down 1.7% at $145.56 on Thursday. It has a consensus analyst price target of $163.47 and a 52-week trading range of $115.14 to $158.83.

CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) was initiated as Overweight with a $110.00 price target at Barclays. This is just a day after Goldman Sachs downgraded CVS to Neutral from Buy and lowered its price target to $106.00 from $113.00.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. DuPont closed at $65.23, and it has a consensus price target of $69.81 and a 52-week range of $47.11 to $76.59.

Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was started as Buy with a $38.00 price target (versus a $27.81 close) at Mizuho Securities. Fitbit has a consensus price target of $49.19 and a 52-week range of $26.46 to $51.90.

LifeLock Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) was initiated with a Buy rating and assigned a $17.00 price target (versus a $13.99 close) at Needham. LifeLock has a consensus price target of $18.25 and a 52-week range of $7.18 to $19.15.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs. Microsoft closed down 0.8% at $55.70 on Thursday, has a consensus price target of $56.61 and has a 52-week range of $39.72 to $56.79.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was reiterated as Buy with a $120 price target at Canaccord Genuity. The firm even said that NXP remains its top large-cap pick for 2016, and it introduced its merged NXP/Freescale earnings model. NXP Semiconductor closed at $84.58, has a consensus price target of $106.29 and has a 52-week range of $72.05 to $114.00.


Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was given positive analyst reports after beating earnings. Red Hat’s price target was raised to $95 at RBC, to $97 at Stifel and to $98 at Needham.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) started as Buy with a $95.00 price target at Mizuho Securities. The stock closed down 2.2% at $81.27, and it has a consensus price target of $106.32 and a 52-week range of $63.77 to $105.89.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, and the firm’s price target was raised to $43.00 (versus a $23.70 prior close). The consensus price target is just over $43.00 and the 52-week range is $23.57 to $61.38.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations this Friday were in the following:
Agree Realty Corp. (NYSE: ADC) was started as Buy at Janney Capital Markets.

ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE: MT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Biodel Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOD) was downgraded to Market Perform from outperform at William Blair.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was started as Outperform at JMP Securities.

Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE: ETE) was initiated with a Buy rating and was assigned a $23 price target (versus an $11.77 close, after a 9% drop) at Jefferies. The consensus analyst price target is $35.31, and the 52-week range is $11.58 to $35.44.

Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) was downgraded to Sell from an already cautious Neutral rating at Goldman Sachs.

HD Supply (NYSE: HDS) was started as Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (NYSE: IPG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

J2 Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JCOM) was initiated with an Outperform rating at JMP Securities.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.


MiMedx Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $12.00 from $10.00 (versus an $8.92 close) at Canaccord Genuity. Despite mixed guidance and earnings under plan, the firm thinks MiMedx is investing for growth.

National Retail Properties Inc. (NYSE: NNN) was started as Buy at Janney Capital Markets.

Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Pentair PLC (NYSE: PNR) was maintained as Hold at Canaccord Genuity, but the price target was cut to $58.00 from $62.00, as execution challenges persist.

Realty Income Corp. (NYSE: O) was started as Buy at Janney Capital Markets.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Sanford Bernstein.

T2 Biosystems Inc. (NASDAQ: TTOO) was reiterated as Buy with a $15.00 price target (versus a $10.43 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: UPL) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Stifel.

In case you missed Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included AK Steel, CVS, Micron Technology, Nike, Oracle, Pandora, Sunrun, U.S. Steel and over a dozen more companies.

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