Five Stocks That Just Had Their Price Targets Raised

Stocks are mostly down as investors await Friday’s monthly jobs report, which analysts think will weigh on the Federal Reserve’s decision whether to raise interest rates. Meanwhile, several important stocks had their price target raised by investment firms this week. A price target for a stock is its projected price level predicted by an expert based on multifarious metrics. Price target provides clues about the potential and future prospects surrounding a stock that could help an investor to make a decision.

Among the important stocks that recently have had their price targets increased are Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF), Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA), Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT), and Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE:HOG). Let’s take a closer look at the analyst action involving these stocks and analyze the hedge fund sentiment towards each one of them.

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Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s stock is in the spotlight after Deutsche Bank and Stifel raised their price targets for the company. Deutsche reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating and upped the price target for the semiconductor company to $20 from $15, citing improving conditions in the DRAM market. Stifel upped its price target for Micron to $18 from $15, mainly due to rising sales of DRAM and growing prospects of 3-D NAND sales. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)’s shares have gained 18% so far in 2016. A total of 67 hedge funds from our database were long Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) at the end of the second quarter, up from 51 funds a quarter earlier.

Mizuho raised its price target for the New York-based luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) to $82 from $72 on Monday, while Nomura Securities also upped its target to $76 from $64, following the release of Tiffany’s second-quarter results, which showed an unexpected rise in profits as lower product input costs augmented the margins in the period. Overall, the company earned $0.84 per share on revenue of $932 million, while analyst had estimated EPS of $0.72 on revenue of $934.74 million. At the end of the second quarter, 26 out of the funds in our database were bullish on Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF).

On the next page, we will discuss other three stocks, whose price targets have recently been increased.

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target raised by Jefferies, Cowen and RBC Capital after the company had reported second-quarter EPS of $1.43, better than the expected $1.40, while revenue came in at $1.07 billion, versus the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Cowen reiterated an ‘Outperform’ rating on ULTA, and increased the price target to $286 from $265, whereas analysts at RBC Capital set a $270 price target for ULTA in a note on Monday. Jefferies on the other hand has reiterated its ‘Hold’ rating for Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) and upped the target to $255 from $215. The number of investors tracked by us bullish on Ulta Salon went up by four to 36 during the second quarter.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT)

Mizuho Securities upgraded Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT)’s stock to ‘Buy’  from ‘Neutral’  with a price target of $176.00, higher than the previous target of $162. Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) posted second-quarter Funds from Operations (FFO) of $1.42 per share, better than analysts’ estimates of $1.41, while revenue in the quarter totaled $198 million, versus the consensus estimate of $197.89 million. The company expects FFO per share of $5.62 to $5.68 in the full fiscal 2016, versus the consensus estimate of $5.68. Just 12 funds from our database were positioned in Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT), as of the end of the second quarter.

Citigroup lifted its price target for Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE:HOG) to $62 from $51 in a note issued on Monday.  The firm currently has a ‘Buy’ rating for the Wisconsin-based motorcycle manufacturer. Citi cited its latest survey in the report, according to which Harley-Davidson’s MY17 Touring models are expected to drive incremental sales over the next year. A total of 20 investors watched by Insider Monkey held long positions in Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE:HOG) heading into the third quarter.

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