Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Chevron, Monster Beverage, Range Resources, Wayfair, Wynn, Yahoo and Many More

March 22, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open lower on the heels of dual bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium. The markets have risen for five weeks and had recaptured positive gains for 2016 as of last Friday. Investors have had to decide whether they buy dips or sell rallies all over again.

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

With terrorism back in the news, it is important to realize that the stock market’s five-week gain has taken the S&P 500 back up to being valued above 17.5 times forward 12 month earnings expectations.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, March 22, 2016.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy and the price target was cut to $655 from $770 (versus a $553.98 prior close) at Raymond James. Amazon has a consensus analyst price target of $735.30 and a 52-week trading range of $365.65 to $696.44.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. The stock closed down 1.3% at $96.44 on Monday and was indicated down 1% more at $95.50 in early Tuesday trading. It has a consensus price target of $96.07 and a 52-week range of $69.58 to $112.20.


Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) was started as Neutral with a $144 price objective (versus a $134.52 close) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The consensus analyst target is $154.80, and the 52-week range is $113.08 to $160.50.

Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. Shares closed down 3% at $32.93 on Monday, and they have a consensus analyst target of $35.30 and a 52-week range of $19.21 to $65.53.

Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy with a $48 price target (versus a $38.06 close) at Raymond James. The consensus target price is $58.60, and the 52-week range is $27.36 to $56.84.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $120 (versus a $92.74 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, but the price target was actually raised to $37 from $32 in the call. Yahoo shares closed at $35.47, and they have a consensus price target of $37.62 and a 52-week range of $26.15 to $46.17.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations were seen in the following on Tuesday:
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $50 from $40 at Jefferies.

Ametek Inc. (NYSE: AME) was started as Outperform at William Blair.

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $20 from $17 (versus $17.08 close) at Jefferies.

AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $900 from $800 (versus a $786.58 close) at Oppenheimer.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA) was started as Outperform with a $33 price target (versus a $28.61 close) at Credit Suisse.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a fair value estimate of $25.00 (versus an $18.77 close) at Janney Capital Markets.

Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) was started as Neutral with a price target of $91 (versus a $90.18 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) was started as Neutral with a price target of $50 (versus a $48.78 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.


EP Energy Corp. (NYSE: EPE) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral with a price objective of $3 (versus a $5.43 close) at Merrill Lynch.

Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE: ETE) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $15 from $19 at Jefferies.

Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) was started as Buy with a price target of $92 (versus a $79.40 close) at Sterne Agee CRT.

O’Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) was raised to Outperform from Perform with a $300 price target (versus a $269.61 close) at Oppenheimer.

PPG Industries Inc. (NYSE: PPG) was started as Outperform with a price target of $115 (versus a $108.89 close) at Credit Suisse.

Sherwin-Williams Co. (NYSE: SHW) was started as Outperform with a $308 price target (versus a $273.29 close) at Credit Suisse.

Spark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCE) was started as Buy and was assigned a $64 price target (versus a $34.94 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $35 from $50 (versus a $33.50 close) at Jefferies.

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

If you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included AK Steel, Intel, Symantec, Tesla, U.S. Steel, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and over a dozen more.

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