Stocks were looking for direction on Wednesday, ahead of a major hurricane and despite a lower than expected reading on wholesale inflation (PPI). The indexes remain near all-time highs in the United States, while most international markets are not. That said, investors have seen less upside when they have bought the market pullbacks than in prior years. Investors also need to consider how they want to have their investments positioned for the rest of 2018.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports, along with trading history. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Wednesday, September 12, 2018.

Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral with a $126 price target (versus a $158.21 prior close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $156.44.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was reiterated as Buy and its price objective was raised to $300 from $292 (versus a $267.00 close) at Merrill Lynch. The firm expects that Adobe will have $18 in earnings per share and $20 billion in revenues within five years.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $50 price target (versus a $40.87 close) at B. Riley. The stock was indicated up 0.5% at $41.05, and it had a consensus target price of $59.17.

BEST Inc. (NASDAQ: BSTI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $8.00 (versus a $6.35 close, after a 2.3% drop) at Macquarie. Shares were indicated up 3.6% at $6.55 on Wednesday.

Brinks Co. (NYSE: BCO) was started with a new Buy rating and assigned a $90 price target (versus a $71.40 close) at Berenberg.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC. Chevron closed up 0.5% at $115.02 on Tuesday and was indicated up at $116.00 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $108.02 to $133.88, and the consensus target price is $147.12.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) was reiterated as Buy and with a $60 price objective at Merrill Lynch. GM was said to be the best positioned of the U.S. automakers.

Immersion Corp. (NASDAQ: IMMR) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $15 target price (versus a $10.20 close) at Craig-Hallum. It was last seen trading up 7% at $10.95 in early trading.

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy with a $180 price target (versus a $155.40 close) at Goldman Sachs. It was indicated down another 2% at $152.00, and it had a consensus target price of $239.30.

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