24/7 Wall St.

The markets closed down marginally on Wednesday, but the major indices were up on Thursday. The bull market is now over nine years old. While the trend of buying pullbacks has worked over and over, it now seems that the sellers and volatility are more influential than they have been in years. This is making it ever harder for investors to decide how they want their assets positioned for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week in an effort to find new 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 the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets 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 Thursday, March 29, 2018.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $144 from $138 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Wedbush maintained its Neutral rating and $134 price target. Shares closed down 2.9% at $124.55 on Wednesday, in a 52-week trading range of $82.70 to $141.26. The consensus price target is $144.76.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was started as Overweight with a $388 at Barclays, which noted that the airline and aerospace defense giant will have cost containment into strong orders. The shares closed down 0.3% at $320.02 on Wednesday but were indicated up 0.9% at $322.95 on Thursday. Boeing has a 52-week range of $175.47 to $371.60 and a consensus price target of $386.83.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. The stock was up 0.4% at $77.42 on Wednesday but was down 0.7% at $76.90 on Thursday, and it has a 52-week range of $72.93 to $91.80. The consensus price target is $82.00.

Edge Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: EDGE) lost 91% of its value to $1.31 on Wednesday after its lead candidate failed and shares were indicated down another 6% on Thursday. Credit Suisse had started coverage as Outperform with a $17 target back in January, but now it slashed its rating to Underperform as there is effectively not much left for the company.

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs. The stock closed up 0.2% at $38.54 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $33.30 to $42.67. The consensus analyst target is $41.88.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral and it now has a street-low price target of $11. Shares were up almost 2% at $14.15 ahead of earnings, but they were indicated down over 6% at $13.30 afterward. The 52-week range is $13.81 to $25.31, and the consensus price target is $20.40.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Longbow Research. It closed up 1.57% at $42.68, and it has a 52-week range of $41.33 to $62.95 and a consensus price target of $50.57.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was maintained as Neutral and the price target was cut to $92 from $103 at UBS. The stock closed down 0.3% at $83.82 on Wednesday, and the toymaker has a 52-week range of $83.56 to $116.20 and a consensus price target of $105.71.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $63 price target at UBS. It closed up 0.5% at $52.38 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $49.60 to $66.94. The consensus price target is $66.83.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was maintained as Buy but the price target was cut to $16 from $18 at UBS. It has a 52-week range of $12.71 to $25.97 and a consensus price target of $15.46.

RSP Permian Inc. (NYSE: RSPP) was up almost 16% at $45.00 after the announcement that it was being acquired. Jefferies downgraded it to Hold, Northland Securities downgraded it to Market Perform, Imperial Capital downgraded it to In-Line, and Goldman Sachs downgraded it to Neutral.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $56 from $70 (versus a $57.90 prior close) at Wedbush. The firm cites slower 2018 acceleration and increasing risks in 2019.

Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup. It closed down 1.2% at $39.25 on Wednesday but was indicated up 1.9% at $40.00 on Thursday. The 52-week range is $21.40 to $44.49. The consensus price target is $41.11.

Wednesday’s top analyst calls included Accenture, American Express, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Mastercard, PayPal, Verizon Communications, Visa and many more companies.

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