Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Allergan, Costco, Cree, Dollar Tree, Eli Lilly, FedEx, Mylan, NextEra, Peabody, Teva, Yum Brands and More

Investing

Published: March 20, 2019 8:55 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 11:13 pm

Stocks were indicated to open marginally higher on Wednesday ahead of the FOMC decision on interest rates. With the market having recouped so much ground in 2019, investors need to consider how they want their investments and assets positioned for the rest of 2019 and for the long haul.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new trading and investing ideas. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while some 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 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 Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $178 target price (versus a $154.10 prior close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The 52-week range is $125.84 to $197.00, and the consensus analyst target is $184.29.

BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $7 target price (versus a $4.94 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Bluegreen Vacations Corp. (NYSE: BXG) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $16 target price (versus a $16.06 close) at Credit Suisse.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was started with a Neutral rating and assigned a $230 price target (versus a $237.05 close) at Nomura/Instinet. The 52-week range is $180.83 to $245.16, and the consensus analyst target is $240.78.

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) was raised to Market Outperform from Market Perform with a $74 price target at JMP Securities. It has a $56.29 consensus target price.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and the target price was raised to $117 from $103 (versus a $101.31 close) at Telsey Advisory Group.

Elanco Animal Health Inc. (NYSE: ELAN) was started with a Sell rating and assigned a $28 price target (versus a $32.83 close) at UBS.

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $140 price target (versus a $126.59 close) at UBS. The 52-week range is $74.51 to $130.75, and the consensus analyst target is $122.00.

Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $13 target price (versus an $8.77 close) at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Envestnet Inc. (NYSE: ENV) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at D.A. Davidson.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) was down 0.5% at $181.41 on Tuesday’s close ahead of earnings, but the shares were last seen down 6.6% at $169.41 ahead of Wednesday’s opening bell as trade issues continue to weigh on its earnings. JPMorgan downgraded FedEx to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the target price to $202 from $227. KeyBanc Capital Markets maintained it as Overweight but lowered its target to $215 from $240.