24/7 Wall St.

Stocks were being sold off heavily yet again, making a four-day big drop for the Dow and &P 500. Trends can always be broken, and eventually they are always broken, but the one trend that has prevailed for more than four years is that investors bought every market pullback.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are the top analyst calls for Thursday, January 7, 2016.

Newmont Mining Co. (NYSE: NEM) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform and the price target was lowered to $20 from $26 at RBC Capital Markets. Newmont closed at $18.56, it has a consensus analyst target price of $23.51 and it has a 52-week trading range of $15.39 to $27.90.

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $42.00 price target (versus a $31.69 prior close) at Deutsche Bank. Its consensus analyst price target is $44.14, and the 52-week range is $29.13 to $53.68.

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a $50 price objective (versus a $50.78 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Paychex has a consensus price target of $49.69 and a 52-week range of $41.59 to $54.78.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was raised to $165 from $150 at Deutsche Bank. Citigroup raised its rating to Buy from Neutral with a $145 target. Pioneer closed at $116.15 and has a consensus price target close to $165.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $51 price target (versus a $42.85 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a $53.77 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $31.36 to $51.34.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) was raised to Buy from Hold and was given a $60.00 price target (versus a $51.88 close) at Citigroup. Wells Fargo has a consensus target of $58.84 and a 52-week range of $47.75 to $58.77.

Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday included the following:
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $19 price target (versus a $14.40 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

AmeriGas Partners L.P. (NYSE: APU) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Maxim Group.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was raised to a Top Pick after already being rated as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Cousins Properties Inc. (NYSE: CUZ) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W. Baird.

CytRx Corp. (NASDAQ: CYTR) was started with a Hold rating and a $3.00 price target (versus a $2.45 close) at Jefferies.

ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) was reiterated as Hold with a $9 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Expeditors International of Washington Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPD) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets. UBS also downgraded it to Sell from Neutral.

Heartland Express Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLD) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE: HIW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Hubbell Inc. (NASDAQ: HUB-B) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: PDM) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Ryder System Inc. (NYSE: R) was downgraded to Sector Perform after having been a Top Pick at RBC Capital Markets.

Swift Transportation Co. (NASDAQ: SWFT) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

If you missed Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Bluebird Bio, Check Point Software, Comcast, Eli Lilly, Hyatt Hotels, Lockheed Martin, Rite Aid and over 20 more companies.