24/7 Wall St.

Stocks were very volatile in the prior week after the worst one-day sell-off of 2019, but a late-week recovery is being followed by broad gains on Monday as long-term Treasury yields rose and as hopes that the U.S.-China trade war would not go too far out of hand. It is important to remember that the markets hit all-time highs in late in July and that the bull market is now 10 and a half years old. Investors need to be considering exactly 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. Other analyst calls 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 the calls. The consensus analyst price targets mentioned and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Monday, August 19, 2019.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho, but the firm lifted its target price to $212 from $208 (versus a $204.02 prior close, after a 2.3% gain).

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $54 from $48 at Citigroup. The stock previously closed down 1.1% at $46.63, and it had a $51.86 consensus target price.

Aramark Corp. (NYSE: ARMK) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel and to Buy from Neutral at Nomura Instinet. Activist investor Mantle Ridge took a 20% stake in Aramark, and its shares were indicated up 12% at $41.50 on Monday. Its prior consensus target price was $38.33, and its 52-week trading range is $25.49 to $43.70.

Ares Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: ARCC) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and its target as raised to $20 from $19 (versus an $18.64 close) at BMO Capital Markets. It had a $19.33 consensus target price ahead of the call and an 8.5% dividend yield.

Castle Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: SCTL) has seen its quiet period come to an end. It was started at Canaccord Genuity as Buy with a $26 target, at SVB Leerinkas Outperform with a $28 target and at Robert W. Baird as Outperform with a $27 target. The company priced its IPO at $16 at the end of July, and its shares recently closed at $20.25.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned a $145 target price (versus a $115.81 close) at Barclays. The previous consensus target price was $137.59.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was reiterated as Outperform and its target was raised to $197 from $176 at Credit Suisse. Morgan Stanley reiterated it as Overweight with a target hike to $177 from $172. Wells Fargo maintained Deere as Outperform and cut the target price to $170 from $185, and UBS maintained its Neutral rating but lowered its target to $160 from $165. Shares closed up 3.8% at $149.23 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $128.32 to $171.22 and with a prior consensus target price of $167.11. The stock was indicated up almost 2% at $152.00 on Monday.

Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was reiterated as Sell at Deutsche Bank, and its price target was slashed to $36 from $49 (versus a $55.31 close, after a 2.26% drop) in the call.

Entasis Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ETTX) was started with a Buy rating and assigned an $18 target price (versus an $8.15 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. (NYSE: AQUA) was reiterated as Neutral but the target price was raised to $16 from $14 (versus a $15.02 close) at Credit Suisse.

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Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was started with an Equal Weight rating at Barclays. It previously closed at $68.30 with a consensus target price of $82.74.

Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) was reiterated as Buy and the target was raised to $3.75 from $3.00 (versus a $1.45 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

Miragen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MGEN) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $3 target price (versus a $0.91 close) at H.C. Wainwright. It has a 52-week trading range of $0.78 to $6.43 and a mere $28 million market cap.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NYSEARCA: NAK) was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $3.00 from $2.50 (versus a $0.69 close) at H.C. Wainwright. This call came after a small $11.5 million share offering was made at $0.75 per share.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH) was reiterated as Buy and its target price was raised to $65 from $60 (versus a $50.48 close) at Citigroup.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $115 target price at Raymond James.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was maintained with a Market Perform rating at Wells Fargo, but the firm lowered its target to $48 from $53. Shares closed up 1.4% at $44.57 on Friday, and Occidental previously had a consensus target price of $59.56 ahead of this call.

ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $21 target price (versus a $17.54 close, after a 3.9% gain) at Raymond James. It was indicated up 4% at $18.25 on Monday.

Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) was maintained as Overweight at Morgan Stanley but its target price was cut to $24 from $42 (versus a $20.51 close, after a 3.3% gain).

VMWare Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was reiterated as Buy at Deutsche Bank, but the firm lowered its target to $190 from $220.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at Scotia Howard Weill, and Stephens also downgraded it to Equal Weight from Overweight. The stock closed up 4.2% at $8.61 on Friday and was indicated up 1.45 at $8.73 on Monday. Its prior consensus target price was $23.24, but this was also a $17 stock before earnings came with layoffs and production cuts based on a poor outlook ahead.

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1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (NASDAQ: FLWS) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said to order up positive revisions for this online flower service. The Zacks Bear of the Day is Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) due to things just getting worse for the regional department store that is just trying to adapt.

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Friday’s top analyst calls included Walmart, Nvidia, Amgen, Applied Materials, Alibaba, Intel, Merck and many more.