Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Box, iRobot, Kimberly-Clark, Match, Oracle, Pinterest, Seattle Genetics, Texas Instruments and More

Investing

Published: September 27, 2019 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 3:21 pm

The futures traded higher Friday morning as traders and investors are wrapping up the third quarter with an eye towards earnings, which will start coming in heavy the second week of October. This is a time when investors need to be considering exactly how they want their portfolios and assets positioned for the final months 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 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 on Friday, September 27, 2019.

BankUnited Inc. (NYSE: BKU) was started with a Buy rating and a $39 price objective at D.A. Davidson. That compares with the lower Wall Street consensus target of $36.46. The last trade Thursday came in at $33.58 a share.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, where the price target for the stock is posted at $15. That compares with a $17.33 consensus target. The stock closed Thursday at $17.05, and the shares traded down almost 5% in Friday’s premarket.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, which has an $83 price target. The consensus price target is lower at $76.67. The stock ended Thursday at $74.64.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, which also adjusted the price target to $230. The consensus target is $240.25, and the stock closed Thursday at $245.71, down a massive 9.33% on solid earnings but weak forward guidance.

iRobot Inc. (NASDAQ: IRBT) was started with a Buy rating at Merrill Lynch, and the analysts have set the price target at $70. The consensus target is much higher at $84.33. The stock closed Thursday at $59.71.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch, and the analysts have set at $155 price target. The consensus target for the stock is $139.75. The shares were last seen trading at $140.11.

Luminex Corp. (NASDAQ: LMNX) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan, where the price target moved to $21. The consensus target for the shares is $27. The stock ended trading on Thursday at $21.70, but shares were down almost 4% in premarket action.

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) was raised to Outperform from In-line at Evercore ISI. The analysts have set a $95 price target for the online dating service. That compares to the lower consensus target of $88.89. The last trade on Thursday saw shares at $71.44.