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

January 11, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open higher on Monday despite another 5% drop in Shanghai. Last week’s sell-off was the worst opening week for stocks in our lifetimes, but we cannot forget that investors have bought every market pullback for over four years now. The Dow and S&P 500 also are now challenging the formal 10% correction marks.

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 other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are the top analyst calls for Monday, January 11, 2016.

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: SAN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. Its American depositary shares were indicated higher because a rival analyst call from BNP Paribas raised it to Outperform from Underperform. Banco Santander closed at $4.29 on Friday and has a 52-week trading range of $4.27 to $7.79.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was reiterated as Buy with an $18 price target at Canaccord Genuity. Box closed at $11.61, has a consensus analyst price target of $19.63 and has a 52-week range of $10.93 to $24.73. The firm met with Box’s management and feels it is on track to deliver against targets, along with having reasonable valuations.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $38 price target at Credit Suisse. The firm sees GM’s earnings power likely being higher than assumed and having less severe downside than some think. GM shares closed at $29.53. The stock has a consensus price target of $41.94 and a 52-week range of $24.62 to $38.99.

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) was reiterated as Neutral with a $140.00 fair value estimate (versus a $165.17 prior close) at Janney Capital Markets. This is despite positive and higher guidance. The firm sees its value based on 27 times expected earnings plus another $22 in cash per share.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs, just days ahead of earnings. Its shares closed down 2.2% at $58.92 on Friday, and its consensus analyst price target is $73.00. The 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61.

Noble Corp. PLC (NYSE: NE) was reiterated as Buy with price target of $20 (versus a $9.10 close) at Argus. Despite oil woes, Argus thinks that Noble will win from its high specification fleet as others retire lower-spec rigs that are unable to obtain contracts without expensive upgrades.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Monday included the following:
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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