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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMD, Caterpillar, NRG, Nvidia, P&G, Square, Red Hat, Transocean, Viacom, Wisdom Tree and More
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Stocks were flat in the early morning hours on Thursday, but futures turned higher on all three major U.S. equity indexes. The markets are back to challenging their highs as well, but not necessarily in international and emerging markets. As many investors have seen lower upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years, they have to consider how they want to have their investments positioned for the rest of 2018 and as 2019 approaches.
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 Thursday, September 20, 2018.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) was trading up about 2% at $31.93 on Thursday morning, after a 2.2% drop to $31.21 on Wednesday. Stifel reiterated AMD as Buy and raised the price target to $38 from $21.
arGEN-X N.V. (NASDAQ: ARGX) was added to the Best Ideas List at Wedbush Securities, with the firm noting an increasing confidence in efgartigimod’s broad market opportunity in antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases.
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: BIO) was started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight and the target price was raised to $32 from $31 (versus a $34.89 prior close) at Morgan Stanley.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $191 price target (versus a $152.76 close, after a 2.5% gain) at Robert W. Baird. Caterpillar has a $166.50 consensus target price, and the 52-week trading range is $123.62 to $173.24.
Church & Dwight Co. (NYSE: CHD) was started with an Overweight rating at Atlantic Equities.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) was started as Neutral at Atlantic Equities.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was started as Neutral at Atlantic Equities.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $23 price target (versus a $17.87 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Shares closed at $17.87 and have a 52-week range of $13.00 to $21.92.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) was started with an Overweight rating at Atlantic Equities. The stock closed at $139.66 and has a 52-week range of $106.00 to $158.50.
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Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was added to the Wedbush Best Ideas List, with the firm noting several earnings levers that other banks don’t have to overcome, like a rebound in loan growth and less margin benefit from rate hikes as deposit costs are accelerating.
First Bancorp (NYSE: FBP) was raised to Buy from Neutral with an $11.50 price objective (versus an $8.62 close) at Merrill Lynch.
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $90 price target (versus a $66.04 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (NYSE: IPG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and the price target was raised to $25 from $24 (versus a $22.36 close) at Macquarie.
Kimberly Clark Co. (NYSE: KMB) was started as Underweight at Atlantic Equities. The stock was down 0.8% at $116.15 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $97.10 to $123.77.
NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $41 from $40 (versus a $35.58 close) at Macquarie.
Noble Corp. PLC (NYSE: NE) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $15 price target (versus a $6.45 close) at RBC Capital Markets.
Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $310 price target (versus a $271.81 close) at Benchmark. It has a 52-week range of $170.16 to $285.22 and had a consensus target price of about $292 ahead of this call.
Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was started with an Overweight rating at Atlantic Equities. It closed at $84.00 on Wednesday and was indicated up 0.5% at $84.40 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $70.73 to $94.50 and with a consensus target price of $83.08.
Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) was raised to Neutral from Underweight with a $125 price target (versus a $134.14 close) at Piper Jaffray. The 52-week trading range is $83.26 to $147.79.
Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $22 price target (versus a $17.19 close) at B. Riley.
Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was up 0.3% at $143.16 ahead of earnings, but its shares were down 5.7% at $135.00 in early indications on Thursday after the earnings reaction. Nomura/Instinet maintained it at Buy and cut the target to $175 from $182, and Stifel maintained it as Buy with a target price cut to $160 from $172. Citigroup maintained its Buy rating but lowered its target to $163 from $167, and KeyBanc maintained its Overweight rating but cut the target to $180 from $184.
Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE: RDC) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $30 price target (versus a $16.48 close) at RBC Capital Markets. It has a 52-week range of $10.94 to $17.54 and a $16.54 consensus target price.
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