The week in analyst ratings: July 20, 2026
25 upgrades, 26 downgrades and 22 new initiations across ~500 US large caps this week, and which firms' calls have the track records to back them.
Wall Street firms published 73 rating changes across StockRank's ~500-stock US coverage this past week: 25 upgrades, 26 downgrades and 22 initiations. Here are the calls from the firms with the strongest measured track records, as of July 20, 2026.
Notable calls, ranked by the caller's record
| Ticker | Firm | Action | Rating | Firm's 12M hit rate | |---|---|---|---|---| | SNPS | Benchmark | Initiated | Buy | 50% (n=383) | | CDNS | Benchmark | Initiated | Buy | 50% (n=383) | | DIS | Benchmark | Initiated | Buy | 50% (n=383) | | PPG | BofA Securities | Upgrade | Buy | 43% (n=904) | | CTAS | BofA Securities | Upgrade | Buy | 43% (n=904) | | WRB | BofA Securities | Downgrade | Underperform | 43% (n=904) | | ROL | Citigroup | Initiated | Neutral | 46% (n=1276) | | RMD | Citigroup | Downgrade | Neutral | 46% (n=1276) | | AEP | Goldman Sachs | Downgrade | Neutral | 49% (n=738) | | TDG | Morgan Stanley | Downgrade | Equal-Weight | 45% (n=1322) | | TRV | Morgan Stanley | Downgrade | Underweight | 45% (n=1322) | | KEYS | Morgan Stanley | Upgrade | Overweight | 45% (n=1322) |
Hit rate = share of the firm's historical buy-equivalent ratings that beat the S&P 500 over the following 12 months, computed by StockRank; n = evaluated ratings. Live version on the ratings feed and Top Firms leaderboard.
How to read it
Benchmark, the top-performing firm this week with a 50% hit rate, initiated coverage on three stocks: SNPS, CDNS, and DIS, all rated Buy. BofA Securities, tracking at 43%, mixed upgrades with downgrades. PPG and CTAS moved to Buy on upgrades, while WRB was downgraded to Underperform. The other major firms showed similar restraint. Citigroup initiated ROL at Neutral while downgrading RMD to the same rating. Goldman Sachs downgraded AEP to Neutral, and Morgan Stanley adjusted three positions: downgrades on TDG and TRV alongside an upgrade of KEYS to Overweight.
Action was concentrated among the highest-conviction firms, suggesting selective reassessments rather than broad sector rotations. Morgan Stanley's 45% historical accuracy and Citigroup's 46% provide context for their downgrades, as do Goldman Sachs's 49% and BofA's 43% rates. Benchmark's initiation spree, despite its strong track record, represents new analyst positions rather than shifts in existing views. The week's tally of 73 changes across the coverage universe points to incremental rather than sweeping sentiment moves.
The necessary caveats
Everything above is a descriptive snapshot of third-party analyst opinions (via Yahoo Finance, delayed), aggregated by StockRank. Ratings and price targets are the published views of the named firms, not StockRank's, and historical accuracy does not guarantee future results. Nothing in this article is investment advice or a recommendation. Methodology (windows, benchmark, minimum samples) is published in full here.
Every rating change across our coverage lands on the live ratings feed daily.