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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Avon Products, Big Lots, Broadcom, Deere, Dish, Union Pacific, Yelp and More

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Stocks were digesting a serious curve ball after a very weak payrolls report, and that might have just delayed the expected rate hike timing. It remains up for debate whether the “sell in May and go away” mantra is appropriate for 2016. After all, investors have proven on just about every occasion in 2016 that they want to buy the big market dips.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, and other reports feature stocks to sell or avoid.

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

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) has found very few believers of late, but the stock was started as Buy with a $7 price target at Jefferies. Avon closed at $4.01 and was last seen up at $4.11 after this call. Avon’s consensus analyst price target was $4.82, and its 52-week trading range is $2.21 to $7.09. The $7 target from Jefferies now matches the current street-high analyst target.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a price target of $60 (versus a $52.35 prior close) at Oppenheimer. It has a consensus price target of $53.00 and a 52-week range of $33.78 to $53.05.

Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was last seen up over 7% at $167.00 after beating earnings Thursday evening. The stock was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $190 from $180 at Jefferies. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Buy rating and raised the price objective to $210. Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $200 from $185. Cowen reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $200 from $190. Raymond James reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $180 from $160.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the firm raised its price target to $105 from $87 (versus an $84.06 close). The consensus price target is $78.26, and the 52-week range is $70.16 to $98.23.

Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) was reiterated as Buy with a price target of $80 at Jefferies. Shares closed at $50.73, and the call comes after Jefferies attended analyst meetings with founder Charlie Ergen and Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch. The consensus price target is $72.10, and the 52-week range is $38.85 to $75.94.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was lifted to $90 from $78 (versus an $84.61 close) at Morgan Stanley. The consensus analyst target is $90.81. The 52-week range is $67.06 to $102.85.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $41 price target (versus a $26.52 close) at Maxim Group. The consensus price target is $25.71, and the 52-week range is $14.53 to $48.50.

You can follow @JonOgg if you wish to get analyst upgrades and downgrades directly on your Twitter feed.

Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades from this Friday were seen in the following companies:

CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) was started as Neutral with a $30 price target (versus a $27.98 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight and the price target was slashed to $8.50 from $16.00 (versus a $6.63 close) at Piper Jaffray.

Dimension Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: DMTX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $32 price target (versus an $8.45 close) at Cantor Fitzgerald. This was the second big call this week.

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: ENH) was reiterated as Buy at Janney.

58.com Inc. (NYSE: WUBA) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $65 price target (versus a $53.50 close) at Brean Capital. Merrill Lynch reiterated its Neutral rating and $64 price objective.

GrubHub Inc. (NYSE: GRUB) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $33 price target (versus a $27.73 close) at Maxim Group.

ICON PLC (NASDAQ: ICLR) was downgraded to Hold and the price target was cut to $78 from $80 (versus a $72.09 close) at Jefferies. The firm said that the second quarter looks to be a second low bookings and eighth low revenue quarter in a row.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $17 price target (versus a $13.36 close) at Nomura Securities.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth.

NGL Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: NGL) was raised to Buy from Hold with a price target of $18 (versus a $16.63 close) at Stifel. NGL is still listed as having a distribution yield equivalent of close to 10%.

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) was started as Hold with a $41 price target (versus a $41.35 close) at Jefferies.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $15 price target (versus a $12.15 close) at Wunderlich Securities.

Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth.

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.

Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN) was started with a Hold rating and assigned price target of $28 (versus a $24.86 close) at Evercore ISI.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Deutsche Bank, Editas Medicine, EMC, Exxon Mobil, First Solar, Newmont Mining and over a dozen more.

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