Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CIGNA, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Rio Tinto, Tesla, Travelers and Many More

Last Friday and this Monday saw extremely ugly post-Brexit trading in the stock market. Banking stocks were hit the hardest, as were most companies and sectors tied to Europe. Tuesday’s market indications were for a 1% bounce higher in the Dow and S&P 500. It is important to remember that investors have found a myriad of reasons to buy their favorite stocks after periods of weakness and after major sell-offs.

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

Investors should consider that volatility from outside shocks often creates uncertainty around ratings and price targets. If an analyst just upgraded a rating or target into a sell-off, they often look like silly calls within just a few days. The flip side here is that big sell-offs generally bring up great buying opportunities for those investors who have a shopping list of prices for stocks with a long-term view of a year or more.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from this Tuesday morning:

CIGNA Corp. (NYSE: CI) was started with a Buy rating at Stifel. CIGNA closed down 4.4% at $122.09 the prior day, and it has a consensus analyst price target of $165.00 and has a 52-week range of $121.87 to $168.36.

Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $50.00 price target (versus $49.97 close) at JPMorgan. Dow Chemical has a consensus analyst price target of $59.24 and has a 52-week range of $35.11 to $57.10.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD), or Dupont, was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $64.00 price target (versus $64.08 close) at JPMorgan. Dupont has a consensus analyst price target of $72.13 and has a 52-week range of $47.11 to $75.72.

Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. Rio Tinto closed down 2.6% at $28.01 but was indicated up 4% at $29.20 in early trading. It has a $32.78 consensus analyst price target and has a 52-week range of $21.89 to $42.11.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, thus losing its price target. This is based upon an on ill-timed acquisition bid for SolarCity. Tesla  has a consensus analyst price target of $251.38 and has a 52-week range of $141.05 to $288.65.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $127.00 price objective (versus $110.35 close) at BofA Merrill Lynch. Travelers has a consensus analyst price target of $112.68 and has a 52-week range of $95.21 to $118.28.

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

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