Investing

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AEP, Apple, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, RingCentral, Tellurian, Tesla, Vonage and More

Stocks were mixed and looking for direction on Tuesday after Monday’s rally. Despite last week’s selling pressure, it is important to keep in mind that the Dow Jones industrials had rallied some 3,500 points from its lows at the start of the year. Investors have to be considering how they want their investments and assets positioned for the rest of 2019.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while some of them cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional commentary and trading data have been added on some of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters (Refinitiv) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, March 12, 2019.

American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. AEP closed up 0.8% at $82.60 on Monday and has a consensus target price of $82.31. Its shares were indicated up another 0.7% at $83.20 on Tuesday.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has announced a March 25 press event to announce the launch of its streaming video service to compete with Netflix, Disney, Hulu and others. Wedbush Securities reiterated its Outperform rating and $200 price target. Apple closed at $172.91 a share on Monday.

ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN) was started as Buy and assigned a $70 price target (versus a $61.55 prior close) at Jefferies.

Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $22 price target (versus a $14.80 close) at Guggenheim.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was down handily on Monday, but not as bad as the open, on the heels of the Ethiopian Air crash. Edward Jones lowered its rating to Hold from Buy on the heels of the call, but other firms made comments throughout the day on Monday defending Boeing’s long-term value. Boeing closed down 5.3% at $400.01 on Monday, but it had opened down at $371.27.

BMC Stock Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BMCH) was reiterated as Outperform with a $23 target price (versus an $18.40 close) at Wedbush, with the firm noting the chief operating officer departure and that the company will dissolve that role.

Buckeye Partners L.P. (NYSE: BPL) was started with a Neutral rating at Mizuho.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (NYSE: CNQ) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $45 target price (versus a $27.18 close) at Mizuho.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the price target was lowered to $50 from $60 at HSBC. Coca-Cola shares closed up almost 3% at $46.18 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $41.45 to $50.84. The consensus target price is $50.67.

Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) was started as Neutral at Mizuho.

Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE: D) was started as Neutral at Mizuho.

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