Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ANF, AZN, BX, GPS, PH, RAIL, VRSN ...

Eric Buscemi — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:10:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Keefe Bruyette upgraded Blackstone Group (BX) to outperform from market perform following the company's Q3 results and maintains an $18.50 price target on shares.
Baird upgraded Astec (ASTE) to outperform from neutral citing relative valuation and upside from new multi-year U.S. highway funding legislation. The firm raised its target to $33 from $27.
Goldman upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to conviction buy from neutral citing "significant" long-term growth drivers that include international growth. The firm raised its target to $45 from $36.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
Energizer (ENR) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
AstraZeneca (AZN) was upgraded to buy from hold at RBS.

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMZN, CBS, CVS, DE, GE, M, TRV ...

Eric Buscemi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:20:00 EST

Analyst upgrades:

Bernstein upgraded General Electric (NYSE: GE) to Outperform from Market Perform Thursday after the close. The firm sees an improved risk/reward on the stock and raised its price target to $19 from $18.
Bernstein also upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes sales growth and margin expansion expectations are too low. The firm raised its target on shares to $160 from $125.
Piper Jaffray upgraded CBS (NYSE: CBS) to Neutral from Underweight following the company's Q3 results and raised its target on shares to $13 from $12.
JPMorgan upgraded Macy's (NYSE: M) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect the company's improving comps. The firm has a $23 target on the stock.
Ansys (NASDAQ: ANSS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
Travelers (NYSE: TRV) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Air Methods (NASDAQ: AIRM) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.