Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Acacia, Baidu, BioMarin, Boeing, BP, CSX, Deere, HCA, PepsiCo, Redfin, S&P, Trimble, Visa, Zillow and More

Investing

Published: July 10, 2019 8:50 am

Last Updated: August 14, 2020 9:43 am

Stocks were indicated to open slightly lower on Wednesday after Tuesday’s equity trading recovered handily off the lows. All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s words on Wednesday, with hints and pointers on when the market should really expect its first interest rate cut. The S&P, Dow Jones industrials and Nasdaq are all very close to all-time highs, and this bull market is well over 10 years old. This is a time when investors should be considering exactly how to position their portfolios and assets 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 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 Wednesday, July 10, 2019.

Acacia Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIA) was up 35% to $64.91 after news that Cisco is acquiring the company. Now the downgrades are coming as the deal realizes the full value. UBS cut it to Neutral from Buy, and Piper Jaffray downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight, now that the deal has been announced.

Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) was started with an Overweight rating and assigned an $8.50 price target at JPMorgan.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was maintained as Overweight at KeyBanc Capital Markets, but the firm lowered its target price to $160 from $179.

BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) was reiterated as Outperform with a $128 target price (versus an $80.39 prior close) at Wedbush Securities.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse. Shares closed down 0.3% at $40.95, in a 52-week range of $36.28 to $47.16 and with a consensus target price of $50.08.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was maintained as Buy at UBS, but the firm lowered its target price to $480 from $500. Shares closed up 0.6% at $353.09, in a 52-week range of $292.47 to $446.01. The consensus target price is $420.14.

Core Laboratories N.C. (NYSE: CLB) was raised to Buy from Neutral with a $63 price objective at Merrill Lynch.

CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.

Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS, but its price target was raised to $167 from $158. Shares closed down 0.3% at $163.35, in a 52-week range of $128.32 to $169.99 and with a consensus target price of $165.28.

HCA Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: HCA) was raised to Buy from Neutral and the price target was raised to $160 from $147 at Goldman Sachs.

Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) was started as Overweight and assigned a $220 target price at JPMorgan.

Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) was started as Buy and assigned a $237 price target (versus a $197.71 close) at Goldman Sachs. The consensus target price is $211.35, and shares were indicated up 0.6% at $199.00 on Wednesday.