Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, CVS Health, ConocoPhillips, EOG Resources, Seattle Genetics, WebMD and More

December 12, 2016 by Lee Jackson

Another week, another record, as the Trump rally rolled on for the markets again last week, with all the major indexes hitting all-time highs at one point or another. With almost everyone expecting a Federal Reserve rate hike this week, some of the enthusiasm may get tempered, but at least this morning, the futures indicate yet another positive open for stocks to start the trading week.

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

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at BMO Securities and the price target was set at $15. The 52-week trading range for the old-school chip-maker is $1.75 to $10.66. The Wall Street consensus price objective is posted at $7.53. Shares closed way above that Friday at $10.34. What should stand out here is that this new AMD price target even trumps Merrill Lynch’s new street-high target from last week. This BMO analyst call on AMD echoes some of Merrill Lynch’s upside views versus Intel and NVIDIA.

CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) was started at Hold from Buy at Jefferies. The 52-week trading range is $69.30 to $106.67, and the consensus price target is set at $86.79. The stock closed Friday at $80.13.

Conoco Phillips Inc. (NYSE: COP) is raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen. Its 52-week range is $31.05 to $51.06, and the consensus price target is $53.59. The stock closed last Friday at $60.77 and traded up over 4% in Monday’s premarket.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at a firm called Atlantic Equities. The 52-week range is $57.15 to $104.37. The consensus price target is $107.56. The shares closed Friday at $106.45, so this looks like a valuation call.

FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, and the stock was added to the firm’s prestigious Conviction Buy List. The 52-week range for the shares is $32.24 to $53.91. The consensus price objective is $55.67. The shares closed above that Friday at $58.81 and were trading close to the $60 level in the premarket this morning.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs. The chemical giant has traded in a 52-week range of $7.46 to $20.51. The consensus price target is $20, and the shares closed above that level Friday at $20.31, so a potential valuation call.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at Scotiabank. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $22.02 to $31.54. The consensus price objective is $26.16. The stock had a big day Friday, closing at $31.42, up over 4%.

Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $26.02 to $75.36. The consensus price target is posted at $56.43. The stock closed above that level last Friday at $64.87.

Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer. The 52-week range is $40.09 to $90.91. The consensus price target is $67.50. The shares had a solid day last Friday, closing up over 2.5% to $56.38.

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $45.46 to $67.55. The consensus price objective for the health care web portal is $60.86. The stock closed Friday at $53.02.

W.R. Grace Inc. (NYSE: GRA) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The 52-week range is $63.37 to $101.17. The consensus price target is $80.11. The stock closed last Friday at $69.16.

Other key analysts upgrades and downgrades were seen in the following:

Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $18.32 to $28. The consensus price objective is $27.83, and the shares closed on Friday at $25.95.

Cheniere Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: CQH) is raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The 52-week range is $12.04 to $23.05. The consensus price target is $25.33. The stock closed last Friday at $21.55.

Cooper Companies Inc. (NYSE: COO) is raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. The 52-week range is $119.28 to $190.99, and the consensus price target is $196.25. The shares closed Friday at $170.62.

DepoMed Inc. (NASDAQ: DEPO) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray. The 52-week range for the shares is $12.25 to $27.02. The consensus price target is $24.18. Shares ended last week at $20.20.

EZCORP Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo. The 52-week range is $2.44 to $12, and the consensus price target is$12, so this could be a straight valuation call as the stock closed Friday at $11.75.

FirstService Inc. (NASDAQ: FSV) is raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. The 52-week range is $32.71 to $53.15. The consensus price target is $50.25. The stock closed last Friday at $45.33.

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: IART) was started with a Buy rating at UBS. The 52-week range is $54.75 to $88.46, and the consensus price objective is set at $89.80. The stock closed last Friday at $79.12.

Web.com Group Inc. (NYSE: WEB) is raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $12.90 to $23.11. The consensus price target is $21.09. The shares closed on Friday at $17.40.

If you missed last Friday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included Alliance Data, Autodesk, Biogen, Broadcom, Delta Air Lines, Finisar and more.

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