24/7 Wall St.

Stocks were marginally higher on Wednesday after profit taking on Tuesday. The markets are expecting a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate hike on Wednesday afternoon, and the odds are still high for another interest rate hike as soon as the December FOMC meeting. Many investors also have seen lower upside from buying on market pullbacks than in prior years. Now the investing community has to consider how to have 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 Wednesday, September 26, 2018.

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. The stock was up 0.9% at $68.54 a share on Tuesday but was indicated up 2% at $70.00 on Wednesday.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $43 from $38 at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Comcast closed down 0.6% at $35.40, and it is down from $37.90 before it won the overseas bidding for Sky.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $85 from $84 at Morgan Stanley. ConocoPhillips closed up 1.3% at $78.11 on Tuesday but was indicated down 0.5% at $77.69 on Wednesday. The consensus target price is $81.74, and the 52-week range is $48.70 to $78.61.

DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy and the target was lowered to $76 from $81 at Nomura/Instinet. DowDuPont closed down 0.37% at $67.95 on Tuesday and was indicated down another 0.8% at $67.40. The consensus analyst target was $81.82 ahead of this call.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) was maintained as Equal Weight at Barclays, but the firm lowered its target price to $11 from $12 in the call. The stock was down 2.1% at $9.39 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $9.22 to $13.48 and with a prior consensus target price of $10.84.

GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) was surging on an Oppenheimer upgrade to Outperform from Perform with a $9 price target. That target was 36% above the prior closing price of $6.62, and its shares were indicated up 5%. It feels like this was the first real analyst upgrade in quite some time. The report talked up the new lineup of Hero wearable cameras having image stabilization and live streaming capabilities. GoPro had a $6.09 consensus target price and a 52-week range of $4.42 to $11.89.

24/7 Wall St.
Oracle Just Became Guilty of Buying Back Too Much Stock

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was reiterated as Neutral but the price target was raised to $125 from $115 at Citigroup. JPMorgan shares were down 0.3% at $116.39 on Tuesday, and the consensus target price is $121.02.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was raised to Market Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities, while Wedbush Securities maintained a Neutral rating but raised its target to $26 from $25. The stock was down 0.9% at $25.29 on Tuesday ahead of earnings, and its shares were indicated up almost 5% at $26.50 on Wednesday. The consensus analyst target was about $29.50 ahead of the report.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) was up 0.6% at $84.79 on Tuesday ahead of earnings but its shares were down 2.5% at $82.70 on Wednesday after earnings brought some minor margin concerns and likely some profit taking. Deutsche Bank maintained it as Buy but cut its target price to $91 from $92. Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $94 from $87. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised the target from $88 to $103. Macquarie reiterated its Outperform rating on Nike and raised its target to $98 from $87.

Repligen Corp. (NASDAQ: RGEN) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $49 price target (versus a $54.38 prior close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was maintained with a Buy rating at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its target price to $75 from $80. The consensus target price is $76.14, and the 52-week range is $59.25 to $80.35. After closing up 1.5% at $62.53 on Tuesday, the shares were down 0.35 at $62.35 on Wednesday.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $73 from $78 at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed down 1.3% at $48.49 on Tuesday, and the 52-week range is $32.41 to $62.70.

24/7 Wall St.
American Express Delivers on a Plan to Keep Hiking Its Dividend

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $130 price target at D.A. Davidson.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was started as Neutral and assigned a $400 price target at D.A. Davidson.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was reiterated as Overweight and the target price was raised to $68 from $64 at Morgan Stanley. Shares closed up 2.2% at $52.14 the prior day, but they were indicated down 0.8% at $51.70 early on Wednesday.

If you wonder why, even when they have a financial ability, people still are not getting ahead, a fresh survey from the Knowledge Academy tells it all. Only 67% of Americans know what a recession is, despite the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis causing a severe global economic downturn for several years. And the big shock on top of that is that only 16% of Americans have a high level of financial literacy. Seriously?

Tuesday’s top analyst calls were in Barrick Gold, Blackstone, Chesapeake Energy, Dollar Tree, Intel, Qualcomm, Sirius XM, Texas Instruments, Vale and many more.