Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Caterpillar, CenturyLink, Danaher, Dillard's, Intel, Intelsat, Mattel, ONEOK, PG&E, Windstream and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: February 26, 2019 9:30 am

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 12:16 am

Stocks were indicated to open lower by about 100 points on the Dow Jones industrial average and almost 10 points lower on the S&P 500 on Tuesday. What matters now is that the Dow has risen over 3,000 points from its lows of early January, and investors need to be considering 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 in an effort 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, February 26, 2019.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was downgraded to Sell and the price target was cut to $125 from $154 at UBS.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch.

Children’s Place Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.

Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR) saw its shares rise 5% after buying GE’s Lifesciences unit for $21 billion, a deal that appears to have gone in Danaher’s favor more than for GE. Some analysts already upgraded targets on the news on Monday, but Deutsche Bank raised its target to $130.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was maintained as Sell but the price target was raised to $62 from $55 (versus a $66.47 prior close) at Deutsche Bank.

DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $67 from $66 at BMO Capital Markets.

Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) was up as much as almost 10% at $64.00 in the after-hours on Monday after beating earnings expectations. Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $72 from $64. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target to $75 from $59.

Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was maintained as Underperform and the price target was lowered to $75 from $76 at BMO Capital Markets.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $65 from $55 at Deutsche Bank.

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Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) was started as Outperform and assigned a $50 target price (versus a $24.70 close) at Evercore ISI.

Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) was maintained as Outperform and the price target was cut to $20 from $23 at BMO Capital Markets.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) was last seen down 1% at $66.95 after earnings, and UBS downgraded it to Neutral from Buy.

PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Hold from Sell at Argus.

Windstream Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: WIN) has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and its shares were almost cut in half to $0.45 on Monday. Wells Fargo downgraded it to Underperform from Market Perform.

Monday’s top analyst calls included Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, AmeriGas Partners, CVS Health, IMAX, Kraft Heinz, Marathon Oil, Microsoft, Pfizer and more.