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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Altria, BB&T, Capital One, CenterPoint, Occidental Petroleum, Vale, Workday and More

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Stocks were indicated slightly higher on Monday morning, but the futures were lower toward the opening bell versus the earlier hours and overseas trading. With the Dow still down about 500 points from the April highs, investors are still looking for opportunities ahead. Buying the dips has not died.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week to find new investing and trading ideas. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while other reports cover stocks to sell or avoid.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday morning:

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $68 price target (versus a $62.93 prior close) at Argus. It has a consensus analyst price target of $66.25 and a 52-week trading range of $47.31 to $64.16.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. The stock closed at $34.02, has a consensus price target of $38.44 and has a 52-week range of $29.95 to $41.90.


Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $67 price target (versus a $69.39 close) at Guggenheim. The consensus price target is $82.28, and the 52-week range is $58.49 to $92.10.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNP) was raised to Neutral from Sell with a $21 price target (versus a $21.63 close) at Goldman Sachs. It has a consensus price target of $20.67 and a 52-week range of $16.05 to $21.89.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight but the price target was lifted to $80 from $74 (versus a $76.06 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus price target is $76.06, and the 52-week range is $58.24 to $79.89.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Societe Generale. Shares closed up 3.2% at $4.78 on Friday but were indicated down 4.5% at $4.55 on Monday. The 52-week range is $2.13 to $7.95.

Workday Inc. (NYSE: WDAY) was downgraded to Sell from Hold with a $55 price target (versus a $70.97 close) at Brean Capital. Its consensus target price is $76.59, while the 52-week range is $47.32 to $93.62.

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Here are more analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:
Aeglea Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AGLE) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned an $18 price target (versus an $8.71 close) at Needham.

Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel.

Cvent Inc. (NYSE: CVT) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities.

Depomed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $19 price target (versus a $15.51 close) at Mizuho.

DCP Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: DPM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

eGain Corp. (NASDAQ: EGAN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a price target that was cut to $3.75 from $7.50 (versus a $3.50 close) at Ladenburg Thalmann.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) was started with a Hold rating and was assigned a $128 price target (versus a $119.92 close) at Jefferies.

GATX Corp. (NYSE: GMT) was started with an Outperform rating at Wells Fargo.

Golar LNG Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLNG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $30 from $20 (versus a $16.23 close) at Credit Suisse.


L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the price target was cut to $74 from $101 (versus a $69.59 close) at UBS.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) was downgraded to Outperform from Buy at CLSA.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

PACCAR Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.

PGT Inc. (NASDAQ: PGTI) was started with a Buy rating at Gabelli.

Smith & Nephew PLC (NYSE: SNN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Ternium S.A. (NYSE: TX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $20 price target (versus an $18.35 close) at Morgan Stanley.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $33 price target (versus a $31.61 close) at D.A. Davidson.

Wisconsin Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: WEC) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was raised to $58 from $53 (versus a $59.25 close) at UBS.

Last Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Activision Blizzard, Berkshire Hathaway, FireEye, Immunomedics, Square, SunPower, Weatherford International, Williams Companies and Yelp.

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