Friday Afternoon’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amazon, Chipotle, Penn National Gaming, Pinterest and More

The January employment report came in stronger than expected, which suggests that the Federal Reserve will be more likely to raise interest rates in the coming months. Markets took a dip early Friday, as equities and interest rates tend to have an inverse relationship. However, the markets turned positive again, at least for the time being.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Friday. 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 Biogen, Meta Platforms, New York Times, Snap, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and many more.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): Raymond James reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $3,950 from $3,840. JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and raised its $4,350 price target to $4,500. Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $4,200 from $4,100. Shares were trading near $3,069 on Friday, and the 52-week range is $2,707.04 to $3,773.08.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG): BTIG Research reiterated a Buy rating, and its price target dropped from $2,150 to $1,975. RBC Capital Markets reiterated an Outperform rating and cut the price target to $2,000 from $2,100. Shares were trading around $1,443 on Friday, and the 52-week range is $1,256.27 to $1,958.55.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX): Atlantic Equities downgraded the stock to Underweight from Neutral and has a $118 price target. Morgan Stanley reiterated an Underweight rating and cut its $154 price target to $140. JPMorgan reiterated an Underweight rating and lowered the price target from $157 to $137. Shares were trading near $145 on Friday. The 52-week range is $144.00 to $196.67.

General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD): Morgan Stanley’s upgrade to Equal Weight from Underweight came with a price target hike to $215 from $210. The 52-week trading range is $157.11 to $214.70, and shares were trading near $214 apiece.

Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN): Loop Capital upgraded it to Hold from Sell but cut the price target to $49 from $53. Roth Capital’s downgrade to Neutral from Buy included a price target cut to $51 from $79. The stock was trading near $45 on Friday, and the consensus target price is $68.56.

Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS): Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating but cut the $45 price target to $39. Credit Suisse reiterated a Neutral rating and lowered its price target to $39 from $45. Barclays reiterated an Equal Weight rating, and it cut the price target to $37 from $50. Shares were trading around $25 on Friday. The 52-week range is $24.01 to $89.90.

Sleep Number Corp. (NASDAQ: SNBR): Wedbush upgraded the shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised the price target to $88 from $85. Shares were trading near $72 on Friday. The 52-week range is $68.18 to $151.44.

Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU): Tudor Pickering Holt’s downgrade was to Hold rating Buy. JPMorgan downgraded it to Neutral from Overweight. The 52-week trading range is $17.10 to $30.51, and shares were last seen trading near $34.57.

Five Dividend Aristocrat stocks are in defensive sectors and look poised to do well for the rest of 2022. They are Buy rated at top Wall Street firms as well. With interest rates rising and a correction looming, they make a ton of sense now.

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