Sell Alert: 10 Stocks Analysts Downgraded on Wednesday

8. Hartford Insurance Group (NYSE:HIG)

Average Upside Potential: 6%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51

Wells Fargo moved Hartford Insurance Group to Equal Weight from Overweight on November 11 and trimmed its price target to $139 from $158. The call lands as investors weigh a third-quarter report in which commercial results softened. Core earnings per share fell from a year earlier, and a gain from ending an asbestos and environmental reinsurance contract lifted net income well above that core figure.

Attention has centered on the Middle & Large commercial unit, where the underlying combined ratio rose to 99.5% from 91.4% on higher workers’ compensation claim frequency and property losses. Catastrophe losses also climbed, while the Small Business unit improved.

Hartford sells business insurance, personal insurance and employee benefits. Its Equitable employee-benefits acquisition closed in October, and management raised the dividend alongside the report. The company is also changing leaders: Christopher Swift is the current chief executive, and President Mo Tooker is the named successor. That one-time gain makes the headline profit look stronger than the underlying business did. Investors are now watching whether commercial margins stabilize as that handover and the integration of the new benefits business proceed.

7. Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA)

Average Upside Potential: 12%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Kramer downgraded Mid-America Apartment Communities to Equal Weight from Overweight on November 11 and cut his price target to $134 from $147. The bank first upgraded the stock in early 2025, betting that Sun Belt apartment fundamentals would recover once new supply cooled. Kramer says that recovery keeps getting pushed out, which keeps lowering expectations for new-lease rents, same-store revenue and funds from operations per share.

He still calls the company high quality and says its valuation looks inexpensive against private-market transaction values, and probably on a funds from operations multiple too. Morgan Stanley also now holds more balanced preferences across apartments, single-family rentals and manufactured housing.

The latest report shows the problem. Mid-America owns apartment communities across the Sun Belt. It met its own core funds from operations expectation but narrowed its full-year guidance, and new-lease pricing fell 6.0%. Management expects new-lease rates to improve from a year earlier in the fourth quarter, slightly later than it had planned, and cited higher interest rates. It said October blended rates improved by more than 100 basis points.

6. Toast (NYSE:TOST)

Average Upside Potential: 14%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74

Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat downgraded Toast to Market Perform from Outperform on November 11 and lowered her price target to $38 from $45. Rawat says one of the biggest reasons behind Bernstein’s February upgrade has already played out: the view that Toast would be an AI winner rather than a loser. She is now watching competition and the cost of growth more closely, and she called the chief financial officer’s coming exit not ideal.

Toast sells point-of-sale software and payment processing to restaurants. Its third-quarter report still looked solid, with new locations added, new AI products called Toast IQ Grow and Toast IQ Team, and a raised full-year outlook. Rawat’s February upgrade had come after software and fintech stocks de-rated sharply. The shares slid after the report, though, because annualized recurring revenue growth eased to 24% from 26% two quarters earlier.

Chief Financial Officer Elena Gomez is stepping down, and Michael Senno is set to succeed her. Analyst price targets on the stock still span a wide range, a sign that views remain divided. For more on the software push, see our look at whether Toast can defend its software upsell.

5. Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO)

Average Upside Potential: 17%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 38

Halozyme reported a strong quarter, raised its full-year guidance, and then watched Morgan Stanley downgrade it. On November 11 analyst Sean Laaman moved the stock to Equal-Weight from Overweight while lifting the price target to $109 from $105. Laaman says the royalty base is diversifying and that Halozyme’s European patent position strengthened materially in October. After the pullback, he adds, the shares trade roughly in line with Morgan Stanley’s base-case value.

The sticking point is timing. The bank’s discounted cash flow value reflects today’s royalty portfolio, which peaks in 2029 when scheduled royalty-rate step-downs take effect. More value depends on a technology called Hypercon, a new antibody-drug conjugate opportunity and the next wave of launches using Halozyme’s ENHANZE delivery technology. The bank says it will count those more fully as they mature.

Halozyme collects royalties on injectable versions of cancer and immune drugs. Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex, argenx’s Vyvgart Hytrulo and Roche’s Phesgo drive much of that income. Third-quarter revenue rose 39% to $493 million, and guidance moved higher. We also examined the large bet the company made on itself earlier this year.