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Wednesday Afternoon's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Altice, Macy's, Marathon Oil and More

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Markets started out higher on Wednesday, after the S&P 500 had entered correction territory on Tuesday. However, after the noon hour, a couple of the major averages turned negative. With geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine still in the forefront of many investors’ minds, other concerns about what moves the Federal Reserve will make in the coming weeks are definitely cause for concern as interest rate hikes appear imminent.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Wednesday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Bloomin’ Brands, Clorox, Cloudflare, Intel, Novavax and many more.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS): Evercore ISI downgraded the stock to an In Line rating from Outperform and cut the price target to $15 from $25. Societe Generale downgraded it to Hold from Buy and has a $12 price target. The 52-week trading range is $10.47 to $38.19, and shares were trading near $11 apiece on Wednesday.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK): The HSBC Securities upgrade was from Hold to Buy with a $182 price target. Shares were trading near $148 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $131.01 to $189.65.

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR): Telsey Advisory reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $180 from $175. The 52-week trading range is $84.26 to $149.37, and shares were trading near $139 apiece Wednesday.

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M): Credit Suisse reiterated an Underperform rating and cut the price target to $25 from $32. Deutsche Bank reiterated a Hold rating but raised the price target to $34 from $32. Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating and lowered the $45 price target to $40. Shares were trading near $24 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $14.33 to $37.95.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO): Piper Sandler raised its Neutral rating to Overweight and hiked the price target to $27 from $22. Shares were trading near $22. The 52-week range is $9.70 to $23.18.

Premier Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: PFC): Janney upgraded it to a Buy rating from Neutral. The stock was trading near $31 on Wednesday, and the 52-week range is $25.80 to $35.90.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX): The UBS downgrade to Neutral from Buy included a price target cut to $139 from $160. The stock was trading near $131 on Wednesday, and the 52-week range is $113.69 to $174.16.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK): Pareto downgraded the shares from Buy to Hold with a $30 price target. The 52-week trading range is $12.74 to $32.00, and shares were last seen near $31.

Sunoco L.P. (NYSE: SUN): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and has a $49 price target. Shares were trading near $41 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $30.55 to $46.95.

TransUnion (NYSE: TRU): Morgan Stanley’s downgrade was from Overweight to Equal Weight with a $102 price target. The 52-week trading range is $83.11 to $125.35, and shares were last seen trading near $89.


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