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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Kinder Morgan, Philip Morris, P&G, Twitter, Williams Companies and More

Jon C. Ogg

Published: April 20, 2018 9:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 12:43 am

Stocks were indicated to open marginally lower on Friday morning, but that may be a lack of direction after close to a 2% gain this week in the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500. Some investors have been rethinking what the nine-year bull market may bring in 2018 and beyond. After all, the trend of buying pullbacks has become more vulnerable to sellers, volatility and each major news headline. Many investors are finding it hard to decide how they want their assets positioned for the longer term.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. Our goal is to find new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some analyst reports cover stocks to buy and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst reports. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

These were the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and other research calls from Friday, April 20, 2018.

Alcoa Corp. (NYSE: AA) was reiterated as Buy but the price target was raised to $69 from $59 (versus a $60.23 prior close) at Argus. Alcoa has a consensus target price of $65.67 and a 52-week trading range of $29.55 to $62.35.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was raised to Perform from Underperform at Oppenheimer. ADS was down 0.9% at $211.66 on Thursday. The consensus target price is $2645.08, and the 52-week range is $202.00 to $278.33.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was reiterated as Outperform and the price target was raised to $1,800 from $1,750 at Credit Suisse. Its consensus target price was $1,674, and it has a 52-week range of $896.77 to $1,617.54.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $200 from $203 (versus a $172.80 close) at Morgan Stanley. Apple has a consensus analyst target of $193.02, and it has a 52-week range of $141.85 to $183.50.

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was bumped up to $60 from $59 at Morgan Stanley.

Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) was started as Overweight with a $140 price target (versus a $111.19 close) at Barclays.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (NYSE: CHD) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. Morgan Stanley reiterated its Underweight rating and lowered its price target to $46 from $48. The shares were down 3.1% at $48.72 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $43.21 to $54.18.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was maintained as Overweight but the price target was cut to $80 from $82 at Morgan Stanley. The shares closed down 2.6% at $69.77 on Thursday and were down 1% at $69.04 on Friday.

Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) was reiterated as Overweight and the price target was raised to $77 from $70 (versus a $64.04 close) at Morgan Stanley. Continental Resources had a consensus target price of $62.26, and its 52-week range is $29.08 to $64.76.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) was maintained as Outperform but the price target was cut to $230 from $240 (versus a $168.10 close) at Credit Suisse. Facebook has a 52-week range of $142.27 to $195.32. The consensus target price was $218.22.

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Globant S.A. (NYSE: GLOB) was started with a Hold rating and assigned a $48 price target (versus a $44.88 close) at HSBC.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was started as Buy with a $21 price target (versus a $16.54 close) at Deutsche Bank. It has a 52-week range of $14.69 to $21.25, and it had a consensus target price of $21.35.

OneMain Holdings Inc. (NYSE: OMF) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $40 price target (versus a $30.47 close) at Citigroup. Its consensus target price was already right at $39.50.

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) was down over 15% to $85.64 on Thursday for its worst trading day in years, based on the degree of cigarette case volumes declining. Stifel maintained Philip Morris as Buy but cut its price target to $100 from $125. Goldman Sachs maintained its Buy rating but removed the stock from the Conviction Buy list and cut its target to $102 from $126.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus. Stifel maintained it as Hold but cut its price target to $83 from $85. Deutsche Bank and Argus both downgraded P&G to Hold from Buy. Morgan Stanley maintained an Equal Weight rating but cut its price target to $80 from $85. The shares closed down 3.3% at $74.95 on Thursday and were indicated down 1.1% at $74.08 on Friday.

Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE: SKX) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform and the price target was cut to $34 from $46 at Wedbush Securities, which noted a lack of visibility around leveraging the model and earnings power.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Maxim Group. MKM Partners raised its rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral with a $40 price target. Earlier this week, Twitter was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight with a $42 price target (versus a $39.34 close) at Morgan Stanley. It has a 52-week range of $15.88 to $40.47, and it had a consensus target price of $37.05.

Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) was started as Buy with a $29 price target (versus a $25.55 close) at Deutsche Bank. The consensus target price is $34.79. The 52-week range is $24.00 to $33.67.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) was started as Buy with a $59 price target (versus a $50.83 close) at BTIG. The consensus target price is $46.33, and the 52-week range is $28.00 to $52.00.

Merrill Lynch sees four oil services leaders soaring as the price of oil has risen well into profitable ordering trends.

Thursday’s top analyst calls included Adtran, Alcoa, Clorox, Kinder Morgan, Lam Research, MGIC, Sprint, Walmart and many more.