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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Adobe, BofA, Boston Scientific, Facebook, Las Vegas Sands, Merck, Tilray, TJX, Valero and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: October 16, 2018 9:00 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 4:22 pm

Stocks were indicated higher on Tuesday after a follow-on rally failed to hold by Monday’s close. While the market’s all-time highs are still within striking distance, investors have seen lower upside from buying immediately after the big market pullbacks in 2018 than in prior years. And the financial media keeps referring to a “peak cycle” with strong earnings. Now investors have to be considering how they want to position their investments for the rest of the year and into 2019.

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 Tuesday, October 16, 2018.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was started as Overweight and assigned an $80 target price at Barclays. Abbott Labs closed at $68.70 ahead of this call, and it has a 52-week trading range of $53.61 to $74.15 and a consensus target price of $76.94.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $304 from $297 at Barclays. Adobe closed at $238.01 ahead of this call, and it has a 52-week range of $148.15 to $277.61 and a consensus target price of $290.28.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was maintained as Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets, but the firm raised its target price to $36 from $35. Bank of America shares closed at $27.92 ahead of this call, and they have a 52-week trading range of $25.81 to $33.05 and a consensus target price of $34.79.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) was started as Underweight and assigned a $73 target price (versus a $70.87 close) at Barclays.

Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) was started as Overweight and assigned a $43 price target at Barclays. The stock closed at $36.43 ahead of this call. It has a 52-week range of $24.54 to $39.44 and a consensus target price of $41.57.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) was started with an Underweight rating and assigned a $143 target price (versus a $141.79 close) at Barclays.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was maintained as Buy but the target price was lowered to $185 from $200 at Citigroup. Shares closed at $153.52 ahead of this call, in a 52-week range of $149.02 to $218.62. The consensus target price is $208.17. Facebook was down 29% from its 52-week highs as of Monday afternoon.

Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) was reiterated as Outperform and the target price was raised to $190 from $180 at Raymond James. This was after Harris shares rose almost 12% to $173.25 on news that it was merging with L3 Technologies.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) was raised to Buy from Hold and the price target was set at $69 at HSBC. Las Vegas Sands closed at $55.82 ahead of this call, and it has a 52-week range of $55.05 to $81.45 and a consensus target price of $76.75.

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Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $110 from $100 (versus a $77.79 close) at Citigroup.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the price target was set at $24 at BMO Capital Markets. The stock closed at $18.12 ahead of this call. It has a 52-week range of $17.18 to $25.18 and a consensus target price of $26.87.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $113 price target at Barclays. The stock closed at $93.82 ahead of this call, in a 52-week trading range of $76.41 to $100.15. The consensus analyst target was last seen at $103.90.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised up to $79 from $70 at Citigroup. Merck closed at $69.46 ahead of this call, and it has a 52-week range of $52.83 to $72.89 and a consensus target price of $75.99.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $97 price target at Sanford Bernstein. The stock closed at $83.49 ahead of this call. It has a consensus target price of $91.69 and a 52-week trading range of $75.21 to $113.41.

Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $198 price target (versus a $169.41 close) at Barclays.

Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY)) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $200 price target at Benchmark. Shares closed up over 11% at $165.64 ahead of this call and were up over 5% at $174.50 afterward. Tilray has a 52-week range of $20.10 to $300.00, and the consensus target price is $121.00.

TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $125 from $111 (versus a $110.51 close) at Citigroup.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $31 from $27 (versus a $21.34 close) at Citigroup.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was maintained as Buy and the price target was lowered to $132 from $134 at Citigroup. It closed at $103.79 ahead of this call. The 52-week trading range is $75.84 to $126.98, and the consensus target price is $133.41.

Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades were in Activision Blizzard, Cleveland-Cliffs, Delphi Technologies, Lululemon Athletica, McDonald’s, Walt Disney, Wells Fargo and many more.