Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, AT&T, DuPont, Fitbit, Huntington Bancshares, McDonald’s, Merck, Newmont, Sprint and More

January 27, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated lower after companies like Apple, Boeing and AT&T were taking shareholders down after earnings. The volatility in 2016 remains in place. While investors may have seen every rally in 2016 turn into selling, they should also remember that every dip was bought for over four years, until the end of 2015.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst reports are on stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst calls.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy with a $146 price target at Canaccord Genuity. Apple closed up 0.5% at $99.99 before earnings, but the guidance and China headwinds comments had Apple shares indicated down 3.4% at $96.55 on Wednesday. Piper Jaffray maintained its Overweight rating but trimmed the target price to $172 from $179. FBR Capital Markets maintained its Overweight rating but slashed its price target to $130 from $185. Susquehanna maintained its Positive rating and $140 price target, and Credit Suisse maintained an Outperform rating and $140 target.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) closed up 1.1% at $35.40 ahead of earnings and was last seen indicated down 2.2% at $34.61. AT&T was reiterated as Buy with a $40 price target at Jefferies. It has a consensus price target of $37.13 and a 52-week trading range of $30.97 to $36.45.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), or DuPont, was started as Neutral with a $58 price target (versus a $53.46 prior close) at Credit Suisse. The consensus target is closer to $69, and the 52-week range is $47.11 to $76.59.


Fitbit Inc. (NYSE: FIT) was down 3% on Tuesday, but it looks to be getting most of that back on Wednesday. Citigroup initiated coverage on Fitbit with a Buy rating and assigned a $35 price target (versus a $16.77 close). The consensus estimate is still closer to $39, and the post-IPO trading range is $15.52 to $51.90.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) saw its shares slammed 8.5% to $8.05 (and hit a $7.83 52-week low) after it announced the acquisition of FirstMerit bank for $3.4 billion. Robert W. Baird thinks this is an opportunity, so it raised its rating to Outperform from Neutral with a $12 price target. Macquarie also raised its rating, to Neutral from Underperform.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $140 price target (versus a $120.43 close) at Argus. Analysts keep ratcheting higher their targets on McDonald’s. The consensus target price is $124.14, and the 52-week range is $87.50 to $121.90.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $55 price objective (versus a $51.45 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The firm thinks Merck is not expensive but also not exciting either, and noted significant headwinds to several of its key drug franchises in 2016.

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a price objective of $22 (versus an $18.50 close) at Merrill Lynch. The consensus price target is $23.11. The 52-week range is $15.39 to $27.90.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was raised to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer. No target price is issued, but Sprint closed up 18.6% at $2.99 after earnings on Tuesday.

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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Wednesday included the following:
American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) took yet another downgrade, to Underweight from Sector Weight, with a $35 price target (versus a $44.06 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets. This is one of seven great consumer-driven players that needs to start paying a dividend immediately.

Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG.

Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) was already rated as Outperform at RBC Capital Markets, but the firm added it to its Top Pick list.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $19 price target (versus a $26.49 close) at Topeka Capital.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HA) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target hike to $40 from $35 (versus a $32.35 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Methanex Corp. (NASDAQ: MEOH) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $33 from $38 (versus a $25.97 close) at Jefferies.


Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was slashed to $525 from $700 at Canaccord Genuity.

Total System Services Inc. (NYSE: TSS) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at First Analysis.

Wisconsin Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: WEC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $56 target price (versus a $53.86 close) at Goldman Sachs.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was reiterated as Market Perform but the price target was cut to $52 (versus a $49.28 close) at BMO Capital Markets. Jefferies kept its Buy rating and $83 price target on VMware.

If you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Encana, Fortinet, Halliburton, Red Hat, Sanmina, Stratasys, Vodafone and well over a dozen more companies.

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