Apple\u2019s Hiring and Spending Slowdown: Analysts Upgrade or Downgrade Fox, General Motors, Lemonade, Yum! and More

Markets turned lower into the close after a fairly strong start to the day. The S&P 500 was leading the charge lower down roughly 0.4%, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq were each down about 0.3%. All this was precipitated by a report from Apple, that it would slow its hiring process and spending—signaling recession.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the tech giant plans to cut spending and slow down its hiring process across a few divisions in an effort to “be more careful during uncertain times.” With one of the biggest companies in the world pumping the brakes, it’s ultimately feeding concerns that we may already be in a recession.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing additional analyst calls seen on Monday. 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 Boeing, Block, Duke, Kraft Heinz, Netflix and more.

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ: BL): BofA Securities downgraded to an Underperform rating from Neutral and cut the price target to $64 from $75. The stock traded near $62 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $49.66 to $135.00.

Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT): Goldman Sachs downgraded to a Neutral rating from Buy and cut the price target to $28 from $46. The 52-week trading range is $21.47 to $60.66, and shares traded near $23 apiece on Monday.

Fox Corp. (NASDAQ: FOXA): Morgan Stanley downgraded to an Equal Weight rating from Overweight and cut the price target to $38 from $45. The 52-week trading range is $31.33 to $44.95, and shares traded above $33 apiece on Monday.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM): Deutsche Bank downgraded to a Hold rating from Buy. The 52-week range is $30.33 to $67.21. Shares traded near $33 apiece on Monday.

Grab Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRAB): JPMorgan upgraded to an Overweight rating from Neutral with a $3 price target. The 52-week trading range is $2.26 to $17.15. The stock traded near $3 on Monday.

Lemonade, Inc. (NYSE: LMND): Piper Sandler downgraded to a Neutral rating from Overweight and cut the price target to $20 from $24. The shares traded near $19 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $15.99 to $93.69 a share.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA): Morgan Stanley downgraded to an Underweight rating from Equal Weight and cut the price target to $22 from $32. The stock traded near $25 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $23.68 to $42.45.

Radian Group Inc. (NYSE: RDN): Keefe Bruyette downgraded to a Market Perform rating from Outperform and cut the price target to $27 from $28. The stock traded near $20 on Monday. The 52-week trading range is $17.97 to $24.84.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM): Goldman Sachs upgraded to a Buy rating from Sell and raised the price target to $135 from $125. The 52-week trading range is $108.37 to $139.85, and shares were trading near $119 on Monday.

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