Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, Adobe, Amex, Intel, 3M, Microsoft, SAP, Shopify, Sprint, Target and More

April 29, 2019 by Jon C. Ogg

Stocks were indicated to open mildly lower on Monday, but no direction seems clear because the losses were less than 0.1% on all three major index futures. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have challenged new all-time highs, while the Dow Jones industrials lag, with Boeing and a few other large components a drag on the market as a whole. With strong double-digit gains already seen so far in 2019, investors need to be considering how they want their portfolios positioned for the rest of the year and beyond.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new trading and investing ideas for our readers. Some of the daily analyst reports cover stocks to buy, but others 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 Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Monday, April 29, 2019.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform and the price target was raised to $79 from $71 (versus a $79.70 prior close) at BMO Capital markets. AbbVie has a 52-week trading range of $75.77 to $107.25.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target was raised to $340 from $280 (versus a $281.96 close) at Morgan Stanley. Adobe closed up 1.5% on Friday and was indicated up another 1.6% at $286.50 on Monday.

Alarm.com Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ALRM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Roth Capital. The stock closed down 0.3% at $70.59 on Friday and was indicated down 1.9% at $69.25 on Monday. The 52-week range is $36.28 to $71.46.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $160 price target (versus a $156.78 close) at Stephens. It has a $189.45 consensus target price.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. After shares rose 1.5% to $117.60 on Friday, its consensus target price was last seen at $120.62.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was raised to Neutral from Underweight and the target price was raised to $70 from $62 (versus a $71.30 close) at JPMorgan. Colgate has a consensus target price of $65.55.

Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform and the target price was trimmed to $33 from $34 (versus a $35.11 close) at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus, with the independent research firm souring on Intel’s weaker data center chip sales outlook. The stock closed down 9% at $52.43 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $42.36 to $59.59.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at a boutique firm called Gordon Haskett after last week’s earnings debacle.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $145 at Argus, with the independent research firm citing strong earnings results. This joins about 10 more analyst target hikes from last week’s earnings report. Microsoft now has a $995 billion market cap after crossing the $1 trillion market cap mark last week after earnings.

NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: NGM) closed up 0.8% at $15.69 on Friday, in a post-IPO range of $14.50 to $18.75. Goldman Sachs started it with a Buy rating and a $22 price target. Cowen started it as Outperform as well.


Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was raised to $32 from $28 (versus a $27.08 close) at JPMorgan. The consensus target price is $33.48.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was downgraded to Hold from Buy and the target price was cut to $66 from $74 (versus a $61.31 close) at Jefferies. The consensus target price ahead of the call was $78.00, and shares were trading up at almost $62.50 before it threw its hat in the Anadarko Petroleum merger bidding.

Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $96 from $92 (versus an $89.75 close) at Argus. Shares closed down 0.5% on Friday and have a 52-week range of $69.11 to $102.17.

Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG) was raised to Buy from Hold and the target price was raised to $90 from $86 (versus an $80.55 close) at Stifel.

SAP S.E. (NYSE: SAP) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform and the target price was raised to $167 from $133 (versus a $127.48 close) at RBC Capital Markets. Its American depositary shares closed down 1.2% on Friday and were indicated down another 0.9% at $126.35 on Monday, with a consensus target price of $128.34 and a 52-week range of $94.81 to $130.16.

Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) was started as Overweight and assigned a target price of $250 (versus a $222.28 close, after a 1.5% gain) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James, with the firm noting greater risk-reward problems and with a lower probability of a merger approval happening.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the target price was raised to $115 from $85 (versus a $77.12 close, after a 5.6% drop) at Barclays.

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: TW) was up 1% at $40.23 with a post-IPO range of $33.68 to $44.25. Merrill Lynch started shares with a Neutral rating, Barclays started it as Equal Weight and JPMorgan started it with an Overweight rating. The shares were indicated down 3% at $39.00 on Monday.

Treehouse Foods (NYSE: THS) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was maintained as Buy with a $125 price target (versus a $103.95 close) at Argus, with the firm noting that the recent weakness in its shares is a buying opportunity.

Visteon Corp. (NYSE: VC) was raised to Hold from Underperform but the price target was chopped to $62 from $79 by Jefferies. Shares closed up 4.7% at $63.80 on Friday, with a consensus target price of $89.43.

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) was started with a Sector Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets. It closed up 2.75% at $133.52 on Friday, with a consensus target price of $120.17 and a 52-week range of $76.05 to $133.75.

Friday’s top analyst calls included Amazon.com, Aurora Cannabis, Cleveland-Cliffs, FedEx, Ferrari, Grubhub, Hexo, Proofpoint, Shutterfly, Starbucks and many more.

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