It has been a couple of weeks since our last analyst rating roundup. There hasn’t been a lot of movement lately in the dividend sector as we’ve been on a steady move higher. Most of the downgrades are coming from stocks reaching price targets. Of thew upgrades we have seen very few investment firms are making public statements about the reason for the upgrade. Here is the brief overview of the last two weeks.
Upgrades
Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD) was upgraded by Chardan Capital Markets from a Hold to a Buy and set a price target of $23.
Boeing (BA) was upgraded by BB&T Capital Markets from Underweight to hold.
Walgreen (WAG) was upgraded by UBS from Neutral to Buy with a price target of $48. UBS said the upgrade was due to the recent sell off in the stock and healthcare reform.
Republic Services (RSG) was upgraded by BB&T Capital Markets from a Hold to a Buy with a price target of $38.
Downgrades
Agrium (AGU) was downgraded by BMO Capital Markets to Market Perform. BMO cited Near term value without a catalyst to push it higher the reason for the downgrade.
Cracker Barrel (CBRL) was downgraded by Miller Tabak from a Buy to a Hold. They set a price target of $81 per share and said the downgraded was based on valuation and recent performance.
Deere (DE) was downgraded by UBS from a Buy to a Neutral rating. UBS said that Deere’s stock price and corn prices are closely correlated and that current expectations are for corn prices to go higher. If they do not there could be issues with stock performance.
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) was downgraded by Deutsche Bank from a Buy to a Hold based on valuation.
Kohl’s (KSS) was downgraded by Deutsche Bank from a Hold to a Sell with a price target of $41 per share. Deutsche Bank said that cold weather, high inventory and off prices could drive poor performance in the stock.
