Investing
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: CONSOL Energy, Kroger, 3M, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Xilinx and More
December 14, 2016 8:35 am
Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:47 pm
Stocks are at all-time highs and the Dow closed within 100 points of 20,000 on Tuesday. Due to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and an expected rate hike later today and a lack of other news, stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday morning.
Since the election, the stock market has risen almost daily and investors just keep buying stocks. Even with a bull market that is going on eight years old, investors are looking for new ideas for gains or income.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst research reports cover stocks to buy, and other analyst calls cover stocks to sell or to avoid.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday morning:
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $24 from $22 (versus a $19.53 prior close) at Jefferies. After the analyst day, the firm sees continued improvements, increasing capital efficiency and attractive valuation.
Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and the price target was raised to $34 from $28 (versus a $34.42 close) at Piper Jaffray. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $28.71 to $42.75 and a $35.55 consensus analyst price target.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was down 0.5% at $178.83 on Tuesday after guidance was deemed soft. Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating and $200 price target. Credit Suisse reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target to $192 from $190. 3M has a $183.20 consensus target price.
NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was raised to Buy from Hold and was given a $120 price target (versus a $91.17 close) at Evercore ISI. The consensus price target is $89.24, and the 52-week range is $24.75 to $96.62.
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight with a $70 price target (versus a $69.34 close) at JPMorgan. Its 52-week range is $42.24 to $71.62, and the consensus price target is $73.36.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $70 price target (versus a $56.48 close) at Evercore ISI. The 52-week range is $40.44 to $56.99. The consensus analyst target is $52.06.
24/7 Wall St. also released the preliminary Dogs of the Dow for 2017 for massive dividends. This list is still subject to change.
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Other key analyst upgrades and downgrades were seen as follows:
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