Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BlackRock, Chipotle, Delta, Harley-Davidson, NVIDIA, Sealed Air, Equinix and More

July 15, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

The stock market hit a new high this week, and stocks were indicated up marginally higher on Friday. Even a fresh devastating act of terrorism and the Brexit uncertainty are not stopping the bull market. Just be advised that this bull market is facing many unusual challenges that most investors are not thinking about. Yet, investors just keep proving that they are willing and able to buy their favorite stocks on pullbacks.

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

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

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform and the price target was cut to $383 from $390 (versus a $355.19 prior close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods. BlackRock has a consensus analyst price target of $388.69 and has a 52-week trading range of $275.00 to $369.33.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight and the price target was slashed to $405 from $500 (versus a $417.98 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a consensus price target of $459.54 and a 52-week range of $384.77 to $758.61.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was cut to $50 from $60 (versus a $40.98 close) at Evercore ISI. The consensus price target is $55.32, and the 52-week range is $32.60 to $52.77.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel. Shares closed down 0.76% at $48.54, and the consensus price target is $51.00. The 52-week range is $36.36 to $60.67.

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. It has a consensus price target of $46.70 and a 52-week range of $19.09 to $53.80.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $71 price target (versus a $64.20 close) at RBC Capital Markets. The consensus price target is $64.43, and the 52-week range is $47.33 to $65.43.

Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $56 price target (versus a $48.33 close) at Citigroup. The consensus price target is $53.58, and the 52-week range is $38.02 to $55.84.

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Other top analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:

Calamos Asset Management Inc. (NASDAQ: CLMS) was started as Underperform and assigned a $6 price target (versus a $7.30 close) at Credit Suisse.

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy but the price target rose to $400 from $380 (versus a $383.81 close) at Jefferies.

IHS Markit Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFO) was started with a Buy rating and $40 price objective at Merrill Lynch. Credit Suisse started it as Neutral with a $37 price target. Deutsche Bank went with a Buy rating and a $42 price target.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) was started with a Buy rating and was given an $18 price target (versus an $11.81 close) at B. Riley.

Reinsurance Group of America Inc. (NYSE: RGA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $108 price target (versus a $96.85 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $35 price target (versus a $34.69 close) at Jefferies.

Superior Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was raised to Outperform from In-Line and the price target was raised to $23 from $15 (versus an $18.41 close) at Imperial Capital.

Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) was raised to Neutral from Sell and the price target was raised to $60 from $54 (versus a $62.24 close) at Goldman Sachs.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Barrick Gold, Coeur Mining, Procter & Gamble, Southern Company, Wynn Resorts and SLM.

Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included EMC, MetLife, Pandora Media, Whiting Petroleum, Yelp, Mosaic, Oasis Petroleum and a dozen more.

Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Accenture, Cognizant Technology, Fitbit, Oracle, Seagate Technology, Vodafone and over a dozen others.

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