Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Chipotle, Cisco, Micron, Seagate, Vertex, Disney, Xerox and Many More

courtesy of Jon Ogg

Stocks were indicated handily lower on Monday. Investors have seen so far in 2016 that rallies have been sold off, but for over four years, before January, every single market sell-off was met with investors buying the dips. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each morning to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. Some of these analyst reports are on stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are this Monday’s top analyst calls.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $475 price objective (versus a $452.97 prior close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Chipotle has a consensus target price of $479.52 and a 52-week trading range of $399.14 to $758.61.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $30 from $32 at Oppenheimer. The firm expects that its January quarterly results should come in line with consensus, with potential downside to the low end of guidance, based on Cisco channel checks. Cisco closed at $23.79, has a consensus target price if $30.55 and has a 52-week range of $22.47 to $30.31.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs, but the firm lowered its price target to $11 from $13 (versus an $11.03 close). The consensus target price is $18.18, and the 52-week range is$9.31 to $32.84.


Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was raised to Hold from Sell but the price target was cut to $32 from $35 at Benchmark. RBC Capital markets lowered its price target to $36 from $40. Seagate closed at $29.05 and it has a consensus target price of $36.47 and a 52-week range of $26.25 to $63.39.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, but the price target was lowered to $120 from $142 (versus a $90.75 close) in the call. The firm remains positive about the core CF business’s sales potential and operating leverage and thinks recent weakness in Vertex shares is an opportunity. The consensus analyst target is $140.25. The 52-week range is $81.98 to $143.45.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its price target to $92 from $112 (versus a $95.82 close). Disney shares have a consensus analyst target of $112.38 and a 52-week range of $90.00 to $122.08.

Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $12 price target (versus a $9.75 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a consensus analyst target of $12.23 and a 52-week range of $8.48 to $14.02.

Follow @JonOgg on Twitter to receive the daily analyst calls in your Twitter feed each morning.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades this Monday were in shares of the following companies:

Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) was raised to Buy from Underperform with a $75 price target (versus a $61.21 close) at CLSA.

Extreme Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: EXTR) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $3.75 price target (versus a $2.76 close) at Needham.

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) was raised to Neutral from Underperform with a $17 target (versus a $17.70 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Mondelez International Inc. (NASDAQ: MDLZ) was downgraded to Neutral from Positive with a $45 target (versus a $43.10 close) at Susquehanna.


Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NYSE: NWL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OLLI) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform with a $20 price target (versus a $22.35 close) at Credit Suisse.

Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RH) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie.

Werner Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: WERN) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $34 price target (versus a $24.15 close) at Raymond James.

If you missed Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alibaba, Amazon, Bank of America, Cypress Semiconductor, Flextronics, JC Penney, Lululemon Athletica, Microsoft and over a dozen more.

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