Investing

Tuesday Afternoon Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Marathon Oil, Morgan Stanley, Shell Midstream, UPS and More

Chris Lange

Published: September 28, 2021 4:06 pm

Tuesday was a rough day for equities in the U.S. broad markets as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 were each down over 1% and the Nasdaq was down well over 2%. Much of this drop was precipitated by a quick spike in U.S. Treasury yields, specifically the 10-year note jumped over five basis points to its highest level since June.

Analysts are suggesting that inflation and rising bond yields may be pushing our regulatory agencies toward a tighter monetary policy, but this is yet to be seen. For now, analysts are weighing in on equities and after what has happened Tuesday.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Tuesday. We have included the latest analyst 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 Applied Materials, Coinbase, Kinder Morgan, Macy’s, Qualcomm, Wells Fargo and more.

Blade Air Mobility Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDE): Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $14 price target. Shares were trading near $11 on Tuesday, and the consensus price target is $15.67.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT): Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $385 from $335. The stock was trading at around $287 a share, and it has a consensus price target of $300.12.

Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: MMP): BofA Securities resumed coverage with an Underperform rating and a $49 price target. Shares were last seen trading around $47. They have a consensus price target of $52.53.

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO): Citigroup upgraded to a Buy rating from Neutral and raised the price target to $17 from $14. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $3.73 to $14.33, while the current share price is around $14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS): Berenberg downgraded to a Hold rating from Buy but raised the price target to $95 from $91. The 52-week range is $46.42 to $105.95, and the share price is near $102.

PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR): Bernstein downgraded to a Market Perform rating from Outperform. Shares were last seen trading near $50 apiece. The consensus price target is $60.70.

Shell Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: SHLX): BofA Securities started with an Underperform rating and a $12.50 price target. The consensus price target is $14.60, and the share price is roughly $12.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS): Evercore ISI started with an Outperform rating and a $225 price target. Shares were trading around $187, and the analysts’ consensus target is $217.50.

While the quantitative easing soon will begin to dwindle, it is highly unlikely the Federal Reserve actually will raise interest rates until 2023, so buying blue-chip stocks with solid total return potential remains a prudent investment choice for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

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