24/7 Wall St.

Stocks had been slightly positive in early futures trading, but Wednesday’s opening indications had drifted into negative territory in the two hours ahead of the opening bell. Despite the volatility and selling pressure last week, the bull market is well over 10 years old and the Dow Jones industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all still have double-digit percentage gains so far in 2019. This is a time when investors should be considering how to position their portfolios and assets heading into late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while some 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 and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations for Wednesday, August 28, 2019.

Alkaline Water Co. (NASDAQ: WTER) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $3 target price at H.C. Wainwright. The stock closed at $1.46 on Tuesday, and it has a 52-week range of $1.37 to $5.56.

Alphatec Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ATEC) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $7 target price at Canaccord Genuity. Shares closed down 2.4% at $5.27 ahead of the call, and the consensus target price is $6.67 and the 52-week trading range is $1.18 to $6.35.

Anaplan Inc. (NYSE: PLAN) was down 2.7% at $57.71 ahead of earnings and was indicated to open flat on Wednesday. Barclays reiterated its Equal Weight rating but raised the target price to $54 from $43, and Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $65 from $50. Goldman Sachs also reiterated it as Buy and raised its target price to $70 from $62.

Antero Midstream Corp. (NYSE: AM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. It closed down 4% at $6.80 on Tuesday but was indicated up 1.5% at $6.90 on Wednesday, with a consensus target price that was $12.98 ahead of this move.

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) was up 1.6% at $150.21 ahead of earnings on Tuesday, but the shares were indicated down 12% at $132.16 on Wednesday’s post-earnings reaction. Autodesk saw many target price cuts after the news: to $160 from $190 at Canaccord Genuity (Buy); to $175 from $188 at Credit Suisse (Outperform); to $186 from $210 at Citigroup (Buy); to $173 from $199 at Barclays (Overweight). Merrill Lynch downgraded Autodesk to Underperform from Neutral and slashed its price objective to $127 from $170.

Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this Midwestern chain of convenience stores has all the pieces in place for continued growth. The shares most recently closed at $168.85, with a consensus price target of $157.70.

Catalent Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) was downgraded to Sector Weight from Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Cerus Corp. (NASDAQ: CERS) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $7 target price at Stifel. Shares closed at $5.21 on Tuesday but were indicated up 10% at $5.75 on Wednesday. The consensus target price was $8.38, and the stock has a 52-week trading range of $4.49 to $7.81.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) was maintained as Neutral at Nomura/Instinet, but the price target was lowered to $16 from $17 in the call. Barclays reiterated it as Equal Weight but raised the price target to $15 from $14. Shares closed at $12.93 and were indicated up almost 4% at $13.43, compared with a prior consensus target price of $16.57.

Laureate Education Inc. (NASDAQ: LAUR) was reiterated as Buy and the target price was raised to $22 from $19 at Citigroup.

Livongo Health Inc. (NASDAQ: LVGO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight with a $42 target price (versus a $29.69 close, after a 5.2% drop) at Morgan Stanley.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was maintained as Equal Weight but the target price was lowered to $5 from $7 Barclays.

Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. (NYSE: MAA) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $133 from $127 (versus a $125.15 prior close) at Barclays. The consensus target price is $124.50, and the dividend yield is 3%.

Myovant Sciences Ltd. (NYSE: MYOV) was started with a Buy rating and assigned a $20 target price (versus a $7.86 close) at Goldman Sachs. The stock was indicated up over 7% at $8.44 on Wednesday, and it has a 52-week range of $6.60 to $27.45.

Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. It closed at $1.65 on Tuesday but was indicated up almost 2% on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $1.60 to $6.65.

Nine Energy Service Inc. (NYSE: NINE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill Lynch. Shares closed down 3.6% at $5.85 on Tuesday, with a consensus target price of $14.75 ahead of this call.

Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) was raised to Buy from Hold and its target price was raised to $60 from $42 (versus a $48.00 close, after a 9.5% gain) at Stifel. The consensus target price was $54.56 ahead of the call, and the 52-week trading range is $38.29 to $60.56.

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform with a $48 target price at Raymond James. Shares closed down 1.5% at $32.46 on Tuesday, with a consensus target price of $46.86. Its distribution yield is listed as roughly 11%.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV) was reiterated as Buy at Stifel, which raised its target price to $185 from $175. KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its target price to $190 from $172, while JMP Securities reiterated its Market Outperform rating and raised its target to $172 from $153. Needham reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target to $187 from $150, and JPMorgan reiterated its Neutral rating but raised its target to $183 from $150. The stock closed at $163.41 a share after earnings. Its consensus target price was $158.20 ahead of the calls.

VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTGN) is a tiny company, with a market cap of $27 million before the news, and its shares closed up almost 6% at $0.635 on Tuesday. William Blair started it with an Outperform rating and assigned a $4 target price. Shares were indicated to open about 15% higher at $0.74 on Wednesday.

We have screened out 30 stocks with payout ratios of less than 50% for sustainable dividend investors worried about the next recession or slowdown biting into many companies.

Tuesday’s top analyst calls included Amgen, BorgWarner, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Cree, Dollar General, Exelon, PDC Energy, Verizon Communications, Zynga and many more.

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