Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AbbVie, ADM, Conoco, FedEx, Fox, Kinder Morgan, Lennar, Micron, Slack, Virtu and More

Investing

Published: June 26, 2019 9:10 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 7:16 pm

Stocks were indicated to open stronger on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said the deal with China was basically 90% of the way done before negotiations went south in May but noted that there is a path to complete trade talks. With the volatility still there at the same time the markets are so close to all-time highs, investors need to consider how they want their portfolios and assets positioned for the second half of 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 traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of them. 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 on Wednesday, June 26, 2019.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) traded down 16% to $65.70, after confirming a $63 billion deal to acquire Allergan. Leerink upgraded AbbVie to Outperform from Market Perform. Shares were indicated up over 1% on Wednesday, and the prior consensus target price was $90.07.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets. After closing down 2.7% at $17.28 on Tuesday, it was indicated down another 1% at $17.11 on Wednesday.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) was maintained with a Buy rating but the price target was lowered to $51 from $56 (versus a $40.42 prior close) at Stifel. ADM has a 52-week range of $37.77 to $52.07 and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Avantor Inc. (NYSE: AVTR) was reiterated as Buy with a $27 price target (versus an $18.70 close) at Janney. It has a $21.24 consensus target price.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the target price was raised to $80 from $74 (versus a $59.77 close) at Mizuho. Conoco had a consensus target price of $77.25, and its 52-week range is $56.76 to $80.24.

Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: DNLI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $ $28 target price (versus a $20.20 close, after a 2.9% gain) at H.C. Wainwright.

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: EIGR) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $22 price target (versus a $10.72 close) at Citigroup. The 52-week range is $8.40 to $15.33, and the consensus target price is $36.00.

Eldorado Gold Corp. (NYSE: EGO) was raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank. Shares closed down 1.57% at $37.53 but were indicated up over 1% at $38.00 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $37.39 to $65.57, and the consensus target price is $55.80.

Envision Solar International Inc. (NASDAQ: EVSI) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $9 target price (versus a $5.11 close) at Maxim Group.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) traded down 3% to $155.98 on Tuesday but was indicated up 2.4% at $159.73 on Wednesday. JPMorgan maintained a Neutral rating but lowered the target price to $172 from $184. Raymond James maintained an Outperform rating on FedEx but cut its target to $190 from $200.