Benzinga's Top Upgrades, Downgrades For March 2, 2018

Top Upgrades

• UBS upgraded Prudential Financial Inc PRU from Neutral to Buy. Prudential shares fell 0.41 percent to $103.50 in pre-market trading.
• Analysts at BMO Capital upgraded SpartanNash Co SPTN from Market Perform to Outperform. SpartanNash shares rose 1.13 percent to close at $16.96 on Thursday.
• First Analysis upgraded FireEye Inc FEYE from Equal-Weight to Overweight. FireEye shares closed at $16.60 on Thursday.
• Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Splunk Inc SPLK from Hold to Buy. Splunk shares rose 5.56 percent to $98.85 in pre-market trading.
• BMO Capital upgraded CubeSmart CUBE from Market Perform to Outperform. CubeSmart shares rose 0.86 percent to close at $27.04 on Wednesday.
• UBS upgraded Athene Holding Ltd ATH from Neutral to Buy. Athene shares fell 0.53 percent to close at $46.93 on Thursday.
• BMO Capital upgraded Life Storage, Inc. LSI from Underperform to Market Perform. Life Storage shares rose 0.80 percent to close at $79.19 on Thursday.
• Raymond James upgraded eBay Inc EBAY from Market Perform to Strong Buy. eBay shares rose 1.21 percent to $42.78 in pre-market trading.
• Analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded Global Payments Inc GPN from Neutral to Overweight. Global Payments shares fell 1.72 percent to close at $111.45 on Thursday.
• SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded Microchip Technology Inc. MCHP from Hold to Buy. Microchip Technology shares rose 3.46 percent to $92.10 in pre-market trading.

Top Downgrades

• Analysts at Susquehanna downgraded Pure Storage Inc PSTG from Positive to Neutral. Pure Storage shares fell 9.37 percent to $19.74 in pre-market trading.
• Wells Fargo downgraded Microsemi Corporation MSCC from Outperform to Market Perform. Microsemi shares rose 5.05 percent to $67.55 in pre-market trading.
• Oppenheimer downgraded Walmart Inc WMT from Outperform to Perform. Walmart shares fell 1.34 percent to $87.89 in pre-market trading.
• Stifel Nicolaus downgraded VMware, Inc. VMW from Buy to Hold. VMware shares fell 2.56 percent to $120.50 in pre-market trading.
• Raymond James downgraded Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc PRTK from Strong Buy to Outperform. Paratek Pharmaceuticals shares fell 1.17 percent to $12.65 in pre-market trading.
• Macquarie downgraded SeaWorld Entertainment Inc SEAS from Neutral to Underperform. SeaWorld shares fell 0.34 percent to close at $14.58 on Thursday.
• Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. CCRN from Overweight to Neutral. Cross Country Healthcare shares fell 17.30 percent to close at $10.71 on Tuesday.
• Baird downgraded Oshkosh Corp OSK from Outperform to Neutral. Oshkosh shares dropped 0.75 percent to close at $78.34 on Thursday.
• SunTrust Robinson Humphrey downgraded Whitestone REIT WSR from Hold to Sell. Whitestone shares fell 11.36 percent to $11.00 in pre-market trading.
• JP Morgan downgraded Opko Health Inc. OPK from Neutral to Underweight. OPKO Health shares fell 18.24 percent to $2.60 in pre-market trading.

Top Initiations

• Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Deere & Company DE with an Overweight rating. The price target for Deere is set to $195. Deere shares closed at $156.81 on Thursday.
• Analysts at UBS initiated coverage on Assurant, Inc. AIZ with a Buy rating. The price target for Assurant is set to $127. Assurant closed at $85.69 on Thursday.
• Loop Capital initiated coverage on Home Depot Inc HD with a Hold rating. The price target for Home Depot is set to $187. Home Depot closed at $179.64 on Thursday.
• H.C. Wainwright initiated coverage on Medical Transcription Billing Corp MTBC with a Buy rating. The price target for Medical Transcription Billing is set to $5. Medical Transcription Billing shares closed at $3.67 on Thursday.
• Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Caterpillar Inc. CAT with an Overweight rating. The price target for Caterpillar is set to $185. Caterpillar shares closed at $150.23 on Thursday.
• Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc CNAT with an Outperform rating. The price target for Conatus Pharmaceuticals is set to $16. Conatus Pharmaceuticals shares closed at $5.19 on Thursday.
• UBS initiated coverage on AFLAC Incorporated AFL with a Neutral rating. The price target for AFLAC is set to $98. AFLAC shares closed at $87.66 on Thursday.
• Analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on United Rentals, Inc. URI with an Overweight rating. The price target for United Rentals is set to $194. United Rentals shares closed at $173.24 on Thursday.
• SunTrust Robinson Humphrey initiated coverage on Bill Barrett Corporation BBG with a Buy rating. The price target for Bill Barrett is set to $7. Bill Barrett shares closed at $4.37 on Thursday.
• Analysts at UBS initiated coverage on Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP with a Buy rating. The price target for Ameriprise Financial is set to $217. Ameriprise Financial shares closed at $153.66 on Thursday.