24/7 Wall St.

Stocks were indicated higher on Friday after a strong Thursday gain to all-time highs. The start of 2018 looks to be the best annual start going back to the late 1980s, but the bull market is also now just two months away from being nine years old. Investors are deciding how to position their portfolios for 2018 and beyond. Those same investors are also looking for new ideas.

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 investors and traders alike. Some of the daily analyst reports and research reports cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of these daily analyst calls. Consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Friday, January 12, 2018.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) recently has hit new highs and seen many target price hikes from analysts, but two calls were seen so far on Friday. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey raised its target to $1,250 from $1,180, and Morgan Stanley raised its target to $1,210 from $1,150. Alphabet, what most people still want to call Google, closed at $1,112.05 on Thursday, and its prior consensus analyst target price was $1,189.17.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) already has multiple new highs in 2018, and now we have seen SunTrust Robinson Humphrey reiterate its Buy rating and raise its price target to $1,400 from $1,270. The company was called the clear winner of the holiday season. Amazon shares closed up 1.8% at $1,276.68 on Thursday and were indicated up another 0.5% on Friday.

Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $283 price target (versus a $235.00 prior closing price) at Jefferies. Anthem shares have a 52-week trading range of $144.44 to $237.00, and the consensus analyst target price was $248.53 ahead of this call.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $204 from $193 at Maxim Group. The stock closed up 0.57% at $175.28 on Thursday and was indicated up 0.3% more at $175.90 on Friday. Apple has a 52-week range of $118.22 to $177.20, and it had a consensus target price of $186.32.

Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $46 price target (versus a $34.53 close) at JPMorgan. It closed up 1% at $34.53 on Thursday and was indicated up 2% at $35.25 on Friday. Its 52-week range is $28.45 to $35.09, and the consensus target price was $40.23 ahead of this call.

Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $30 from $22 (versus a $22.46 close) at Wedbush Securities. The firm said the higher price target is from demand trends now that lumber prices are stabilizing, repair and remodel indicators are trending higher, and single family indicators are improving.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was raised to Outperform with a $55 price target (versus a $46.04 close) at Evercore. The shares were indicated up 0.4% at $46.24 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $40.22 to $47.48. The consensus target price was $49.42.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was maintained as Buy at TD Securities, but the cable giant was removed from the firm’s Action Buy list. Comcast closed up 3.67% at $42.60 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $34.78 to $42.67 and with a consensus target price of $45.26.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $120 price target (versus a $112.00 close) at Morgan Stanley. Shares were indicated down 1.3% at $110.50 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $78.89 to $122.79.

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Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $17 price target (versus a $20.56 close) at Morgan Stanley. The shares were up 1.5% on Thursday, but they were indicated down over 4% at $19.70 on Friday. Etsy has a 52-week range of $9.41 to $21.86, and its consensus analyst target was $18.20.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) already has seen multiple analyst target hikes, but on Friday we saw Morgan Stanley raise its target to $215 from $200, and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey raised its target to $240 from $215. Facebook was indicated down 4.7% at $178.90 after changes were made to its newsfeed, and its 52-week trading range is $126.78 to $188.90.

FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) closed up 8.6% at $2.01 on Thursday after earnings. B. Riley has now raised its rating to Buy from Neutral and its price target to $3.50 from $2.50. The stock was indicated up another 1.5% at $2.04 on Friday, and it has a 52-week range of $0.80 to $2.49.

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $333 price target (versus a $265.21 close) at Jefferies. Its shares closed up 0.8% at $265.21 on Thursday and were indicated up 1.1% at $268.22 on Friday. Humana has a 52-week range of $186.25 to $267.12. The consensus price target was $273.00 ahead of this call.

Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) was raised to Sector Perform from Underperform but the price target was raised to $60 from $39 at RBC Capital Markets. It was also raised to Overweight with a $72 price target at JPMorgan. Kohl’s closed up almost 4% at $61.12 on Thursday and was indicated up another 3.6% at $63.35 on Friday, with a prior consensus target price of $55.50 and a 52-week high (from Thursday) of $61.16.

New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE: NRZ) was reiterated as Neutral but the price target was raised to $20 (versus a $17.74 close) at Wedbush.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral with a $20.50 price target (versus an $18.55 close) at JPMorgan.

SAP A.G. (NYSE: SAP) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform with a $114 price target (versus a $109.64 close) at Cowen.

Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James, noting that user growth will remain challenging. Snap closed at $14.60 on Thursday, but we also saw Morgan Stanley (with its Underperform rating) lower its target to $10 from $11 in another cautious call. Snap, which is a social media company rather than a camera company, closed down 0.3% on Thursday and was indicated down 1.7% more at $14.36 on Friday. Snap’s 52-week low is $11.28, and the consensus target price was $12.33 before these calls.

Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) was raised to Overweight with a $60 price target (versus a $43.90 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) was started as Outperform and assigned a $67 price target (versus a $57.03 close) at Wedbush. The firm sees no slowdown in same-store sales despite long-running gains already seen.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $113 from $110 at Raymond James. Walmart closed up 0.3% at $100.02 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $65.28 to $102.35 and with a prior consensus target price of $103.20.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Akamai, Barclays, Chevron, Duke Energy, Expedia, First Solar, Kinder Morgan, Netflix and many more.