Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Banco Santander, Box, GM, Illumina, JPMorgan, Noble and Many More

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: APAM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, and the price target was cut to $34 from $43 in the call. Jefferies believes that a return to growth is now unlikely in 2016. Credit Suisse started Artisan as Outperform with a $43 price target.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays, and the price target was slashed to $3 from $8 (versus a $3.46 close).

Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $16 from $18.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (NYSE: MMC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the target price was lowered to $54 from $58.

Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) was reiterated as Buy with a price target of $118 at Argus. The firm sees growth, with annual dividend growth of 8% over the past 10 years, and targeting 12% to 14% dividend growth over the next three years.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was raised to Buy from Hold with target of $27 (versus a $23.05 close) at Argus.


Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG) was maintained as Buy at Argus, but the firm did lower its target price to $45 from $50 (versus a $38.42 close).

Virtus Investment Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTS) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $122 from $152. Credit Suisse started it as Neutral with a $143 price target.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $27 from $37.

WisdomTree Investments Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) was maintained as Buy at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $19 from $24.

XL Group PLC (NYSE: XL) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and the firm lowered its target price to $39 from $43 in the call.

Morgan Stanley has joined Goldman Sachs in saying that oil could approach $20 per barrel. Bank of America Merrill Lynch also lowers its 2016 average oil forecast to $45 per barrel.

Argus has noted cautiously positive notes for the markets in 2016. The firm believes that valuations are supportive of equities, bond yields have fallen with stocks and its valuation model indicates that the S&P 500 is now more than 10% below fair value.

In case you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Apple, Alcoa, Aetna, Barracuda Networks, GoPro, PulteGroup, United Technologies and over a dozen more companies.

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