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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades: Apple, Baidu, BioNTech, Exxon Mobil, GEV, Lowe’s, Salesforce, SunRun & More

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Stocks had initially traded lower on Tuesday, but stimulus measures in China have markets picking up steam. Investors and traders alike are looking for new ideas to be positioned for the coming months and into 2025 for lower interest rates.

Tactical Bulls searches the daily flow of analyst calls covering the upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street looking for new ideas in Wall Street research reports. These analyst calls can be a reliable source for finding some of those new ideas that might have otherwise been overlooked or missed.

Short-term traders get a glimpse of immediate price reactions to news and to the analyst calls. Long-term investors get a picture of new buy, sell and hold ratings with targets looking a year out.

Tactical Bulls always reminds its readers and all investors that no single analyst report should ever be used as the sole reason to buy or sell a stock. The decision to buy, sell or hold needs to be made by each investor along with their financial advisor.

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades seen on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was reiterated as Buy and with a $260 target price at Needham & Co. Apple closed down 0.76% at $226.47 on Monday and shares were indicated up about 0.8% at $228.25 on Tuesday.

Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNA) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $59 price target (versus $54.50 prior close) at Goldman Sachs.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) closed up 2.3% at $88.28 on Monday and was indicated up over 4% at $92.00 on Tuesday’s news of China stimulus. Baidu was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $100 price target at HSBC.

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $18 from $14 (versus $14.84 close) at Wedbush Securities.

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) was raised to Overweight from Equal-Weight and its price target was raised to $145 from $93 (versus $113.05 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. BioNTech shares were indicated up 3% at $116.44 on Tuesday morning.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Redburn Atlantic.

Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $75 from $52 (versus $60.20 prior close0 at Wedbush Securities.

Dayforce Inc. (NYSE: DAY) was started as Overweight with a $70 price target (versus $59.20 close) at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

ALSO READ: TACTICAL BUY FOR UTILITIES ON LOWER RATES

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy but its price target was adjusted up to $120 from $119 (versus $117.36 prior close) at Redburn Atlantic.

GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $300 price target (versus $251.53 prior close) at Guggenheim.

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE: KVUE) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform and its target was kept at $24 (versus $23.02 prior close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $290 price target (versus $262.29 prior close) at Melius Research in a late-Monday call. Oppenheimer raised Lowe’s to Outperform from Perform and raised its price target to $400 from $345 on Tuesday – calling it a better opportunity than Home Depot (Perform).

McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird.

Prosperity Bancshares (NYSE: PB) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $90 from $75 (versus $72.35 prior close) at Wedbush Securities.

Procore Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PCOR) was started as Outperform with a $73 target price (versus $58.89 close) at R.W. Baird.

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTGX) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $65 price target (versus $46.15 close) at TD Cowen.

ALSO READ: A TACTICAL LOOK AT INTEL/QUALCOMM RUMORS

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink.

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) was raised to Outperform from Neutral and its price target was raised to $28 from $23 (versus $22.91 prior close0 at Wedbush Securities.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) was started with an Outperform rating and was assigned a $280 target price (versus $246.18 close) at R.W. Baird.

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and its price target was raised to $325 from $268 at Piper Sandler, with the firm seeing cash flow to double to $20 per share by 2028.

SunRun Inc. (NASDAQ: RUN) was reiterated as Overweight with a $35 price target (versus $18.91 prior close) at Morgan Stanley. SunRun was indicated up over 3% at $19.50 on Tuesday morning.

TransMedics Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMDX) was started as Outperform with a $200 price target (versus $159.50 prior close) at R.W. Baird.

If you missed Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of CAVA, Constellation, CrowdStrike, FedEx, Microsoft, PayPal, Ulta and many more stocks.