Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Activision Blizzard, AK Steel, Applied Materials, Cree, Dell, Etsy, Lam Research, Nvidia, Square, 3D Systems, Visa, Wayfair and More
January 29, 2019 by Jon C. OggStocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Tuesday after Monday’s sell-off took all three major U.S. equity indexes lower. Earnings season has been off to a rocky move at the start of 2019, but the Dow Jones industrial average had popped some 2,000 points above its lows from the start of this year. Investors have noticed that the prevailing trend of buying all the dips generally has been followed by less upside or additional losses, and the volatility late in 2018 shook the confidence of many investors over how they want their assets positioned for 2019 and beyond.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week, Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others 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 were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, January 29, 2019.
Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Needham.
Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (NYSE: AMG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Alteryx Inc. (NYSE: AYX) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Atlantic Equities.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the price target was raised to $45 from $38 (versus a $38.70 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets. It has a 52-week trading range of $28.79 to $62.40, and its consensus target price was $47.73.
AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie. Its shares closed down 3.5% at $2.70 on Monday and were indicated up almost 2% at $2.75 on Tuesday morning.
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
Carbon Black Inc. (NASDAQ: CBLK) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.
Chemical Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CHFC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $59 target price (versus a $44.75 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.
Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNST) was started as Outperform and assigned a $17 target price (versus a $6.40 close) at Robert. W. Baird.
CoreLogic Inc. (NYSE: CLGX) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Stephens.
Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities.
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) was started as Outperform and assigned a $57 target price at Raymond James.
Dynagas LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE: DLNG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EIGR) was started as Outperform and assigned a $47 target price (versus a $13.68 close) at Robert W. Baird. It had a $32.80 consensus target price.
Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $64 target price (versus a $54.92 close) at Deutsche Bank.
Evolus Inc. (NASDAQ: EOLS) was started as Buy with a $27 price target (versus a $14.99 close) at Stifel.
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