With stocks indicated slightly higher after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the vaunted 18,000 level, investors will look to extend gains and perhaps see yet another day of records for the indexes on this trading shortened Christmas Eve. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning to find new investment and trading ideas for its readers. Some analyst research reports cover new stocks to buy, and others cover stocks to sell or avoid.

Here are Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from top research calls from around Wall Street.

Arctic Cat Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAT) was started at a Market Perform rating at Wells Fargo.

Ellington Financial LLC (NYSE: EFC) was started at Hold at MLV & Co. with a $21 price target. The shares closed Tuesday at $20.75.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) was started at Buy at MLV & Co. with a $12 price objective.

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Miller Tabak.

OvaScience Inc. (NASDAQ: OVAS) was raised to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.

Virgin America Inc. (NASDAQ: VA) saw its post-IPO quiet period end, with numerous firms weighing in. Cowen started the stock at Outperform with a $42 target. Deutsche Bank started it at a Buy rating with a $44 target. Merrill Lynch started it at Buy with a $40 target, and Raymond James started it with a Market Perform rating.

If you missed Tuesdays top analysts upgrades, downgrades and initiations, they were in Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Kimberly Clark, Red Hat, Sonus Networks and more.

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