Stocks were mixed in the wee-hours of futures trading Wednesday, but they have since decided to turn positive. A trend that just will not die is that investors step up and buy value stocks when they are sold off. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week. The goal is to find new investing and trading ideas for our readers. Some of these analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform with a $66.00 price target (versus a $56.05 prior close) at BMO Capital Markets. Analog Devices has a consensus analyst price target of $67.48 and a 52-week trading range of $42.59 to $68.97.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was reiterated as Buy and its $39 price target was maintained as well at Canaccord Genuity. The firm is introducing its 2017 estimates calling for mid-single digit revenue and earnings growth. Intel has a consensus analyst price target of $33.90 and a 52-week range of $24.87 to $37.90.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) was downgraded to Market Underperform from Market Perform and was given a $31.00 price target (versus a $37.82 close) at JMP Securities. Oracle’s consensus price target is $44.71 and the software giant has a 52-week range of $35.14 to $46.71.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) was raised to Buy with a $73.00 price target (versus a $54.13 close) at Argus. Shell has a 52-week range of $45.81 to $72.20. The firm expects Shell’s underperformance against the S&P and the energy sector in the past five years to reverse as Shell cuts costs, improves its return on capital and maintains adequate liquidity.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Market Outperform at JMP Securities. Twitter closed at $29.06, has a consensus price target of $38.23 and has a 52-week range of $21.01 to $53.49.

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) was reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity, but the firm raised its price target up to $130 from $105 (versus a $101.28 close). The firm said that apparel will drive solid third-quarter sales growth. This ties for the street-high analyst target price. Under Armour’s consensus price target is $106.78, and its 52-week range is $60.00 to $105.89.

Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy with a $23.00 price target, lowered from $29.00 and versus a $19.27 close, at Deutsche Bank. Whiting has a consensus analyst price target of $30.03 and has a 52-week range of $13.50 to $64.39.

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Other key analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations on Wednesday morning were seen in the following:

Ameresco Inc. (NYSE: AMRC) was started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.

American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (NYSE: AEL) was started as Buy with a $29.00 price target (versus a $24.37 close) at Citigroup.

Arthur J. Gallagher& Co. (NYSE: AJG) was started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE: AXTA) was started as Outperform with a price target of $34.00 (versus a $26.66 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) was started as Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets.

Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.

Diplomat Pharmacy Inc. (NYSE: DPLO) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) was started as Outperform with an $88.00 price target (versus a $70.89 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was started as Buy and was assigned a $12.00 price target (versus an $8.39 close) at Deutsche Bank.

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Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was maintained as Buy at Janney Capital Markets, but the firm lowered its earnings estimates and lowered its fair value estimate to $23 from $24 in the call.

Heartware International Inc. (NASDAQ: HTWR) was raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs, but the price target was cut to $42.00 from $67.00 (versus a $35.21 close).

Key Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: KEG) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at R.W. Baird. This is already a $0.69 stock, so interest has faded considering its 52-week range of $0.42 to $4.13.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK) was started as Outperform and was assigned an initial $92.00 price target (versus a $64.99 close) at Northland.

Microsemi Corp. (NASDAQ: MSCC) was started with a Buy rating and was assigned a $42.00 price target (versus a $34.59 close) at Mizuho Securities.

Prima Biomed Ltd. (NASDAQ: PBMD) was started as Buy with a $3.00 price target (versus a $1.22 close) at H.C. Wainwright.

RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE: RLJ) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM) was started as Sector Perform with a $47.00 (versus a $44.00 close) at RBC Capital Markets.

SAP A.G. (NYSE: SAP) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC Securities.

Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: TCO) was raised to Outperform from Neutral with a $95.00 price target (versus a $72.50 prior target and a $73.44 close) at Cowen.

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WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) was started as Outperform and was assigned a $14.00 price target (versus an $8.34 close) at Imperial Capital.

In case you missed Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades, they included CenturyLink, JetBlue AIrways, Level 3 Communications, Netflix, PulteGroup, United Technologies, VMware and Whiting Petroleum.

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