Tuesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Allstate, Annaly Capital, Cisco, Gap, Opendoor, PepsiCo, SunPower, Texas Instruments, US Bancorp and More

Investing

Published: February 15, 2022 8:56 am

Last Updated: February 15, 2022 9:10 am

The futures were up huge on Tuesday after Russia indicated it has pulled some troops back from the Ukrainian border and they are headed back to their base. This is after reports surfaced Monday that CBS National Security Reporter Mary Walsh released a tweet saying that a U.S. official said that satellite imaging showed Russian leaving assembly points to attack positions. Later more media reports came out stating that the President of Ukraine had been informed that the attack was scheduled for Wednesday. All this comes on the heels of the Russian Foreign Minister noting that there may be a way forward with talks between the two countries.

The major indexes closed mixed Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500 losing ground, while the Nasdaq closed flat. The troubling news from Eastern Europe also surprisingly sent sellers into the Treasury complex, as all the maturities yields closed higher. Oil also rocked higher, with both Brent and West Texas Intermediate closing at or above the $95 a barrel level.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK): Wolfe Research resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $67 price target. The consensus target is $72.85. The stock closed Monday at $57.01.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL): UBS upgraded the insurance heavyweight to Buy from Neutral and boosted the $126 price target to $149. That compares with the consensus target of $130.46 and Monday’s closing print of $124.80.

Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and lowered the price target to $7.25 from $8.75. The consensus target is $8.38. The shares closed Monday at $7.19.

Ascendis Pharmaceutical A/S (NASDAQ: ASND): Oppenheimer raised its Perform rating to Outperform with a $170 price target. The consensus price objective is up at $192.89. The stock closed on Monday at $121.74.

Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG): This food company expects strong momentum to continue in 2022, says Zacks, which selected it as the Bull of the Day stock. Shares most recently closed at $100.83 and have a consensus price target of $115.20, which would be a 52-week high.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN): Loop Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and an $87 target price. The consensus target is $80.52. The final trade for Monday was reported at $63.82.