Stocks were trying to hold firm with very small gains after Wednesday’s major sell-off. So far, investors have shown repeatedly that they will eagerly buy oversold or overlooked stocks when they can. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of brokerage analyst reports each morning of the week, hunting for new investment and trading ideas for our readers. Some key analyst reports cover stocks to buy, while others also cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations covered by 24/7 Wall St.

AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $10 price target (versus a $7.25 close) at Deutsche Bank.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS after news that CEO Brian Moynihan is also being named chairman.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $46 to $48 price range (versus a $28.30 closing price) at Wells Fargo.

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) was raised to Buy from Hold at Topeka Capital Markets. What stands out about this call on Thursday is that the stock was less than $2 above its 52-week low.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was raised to Overweight from Neutral and the price target was set at $64 (versus a $50.06 closing price) at J.P. Morgan. The call is based on a belief that Twitter will continue to add new users and that it will be able monetize the shift toward mobile advertising.

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Other Analyst Calls Worth Noting:

Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) affirmed its guidance at its analyst meeting and analysts responded favorably. Autodesk was raised to Neutral from Sell by Citigroup and raised to Outperform from Neutral by both Credit Suisse and Cowen.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) was raised to Hold from Sell at Canaccord Genuity.

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Gentex Corp. (NASDAQ: GNTX) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) was started as Outperform with a $125 price target (versus a $105.91 close) at Credit Suisse.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $219 price target (versus a $194.08 close) at Deutsche Bank.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) was started as a Top Pick at RBC Capital Markets.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $49 price target (versus a $41.95 close) at Deutsche Bank.

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ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

Splunk, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) was started as Buy at Stifel.

Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) downgraded to Hold from Buy at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

In case you missed Wednesday’s key analyst upgrades and downgrades, they were in shares of eBay, Hecla Mining, Boeing, Janus Capital, Orbitz Worldwide, Ford and many more.

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