The futures were higher across the board as decision day for the Federal Reserve has arrived, and Wall Street seems split on the verdict. Many feel that the Fed will stay with a 50-basis-point increase, while a growing contingent feels the heavy artillery is coming out and a 75-basis-point increase will be dealt to investors. In fact, Goldman Sachs said earlier this week that it thinks the central bank is so far behind the curve that it expects 75-basis-point hikes Wednesday and in July. Either way, the path of least resistance for the stock market still seems to be lower until the inflation and recession worries subside.

After an early attempt to rally on Tuesday, the major indexes closed mixed, as they all jumped higher off the midday lows. After closing in on $125 a barrel early Tuesday when OPEC announced that not only did it not increase output in May, but production actually decreased, both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude surprisingly closed lower.

Natural gas, which has been on a parabolic move higher this year, closed down at $7.19, a stunning 17% decline after Freeport LNG, the nation’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, said its plant that shut down last week due to an explosion probably will not return to full operations until near the end of this year.

Selling continued in the Treasury market Tuesday in front of the Fed announcement on rates. Yields rose once again across the curve, with both the five-year and 10-year notes closing at 52-week high yields. The five-year continues to trade inverted to the 30-year long bond, as traders sense a recession may be closer than expected. Gold closed lower, while cryptocurrencies were once again down, with Bitcoin dropping almost 2%.

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 Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN): Baird lowered its $378 price target to $340 while maintaining a Neutral rating ahead of the company’s earnings. Shares hit a 52-week low of $268.17 last month but closed on Tuesday at $275.17.

B&G Foods Inc. (NYSE: BGS): Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underweight and raised the $25 price target to $33. The consensus target is $25.63. Tuesday’s close was at $22.27.

Braze Inc. (NASDAQ: BRZE): Goldman Sachs lowered its $65 price target to $56 but kept a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $68.20. The stock closed up 9% on Tuesday at $32.05, after a very solid earnings report.

Bridgebio Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: BBIO): Goldman Sachs boosted its $19 price target to $21 while maintaining a Buy rating on the shares. The consensus target is $23.33. The stock closed almost 10% higher on Tuesday at $6.51, after the company posted positive clinical data.
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS): This key software player in semiconductors has seen price targets move above $200, says Zacks, which named it the Bull of the Day. Shares last closed at $143.39, and the consensus price target of $192.14 represents upside of about 34%.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NASDAQ: CHK): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $115 price target. That compares with a $131 consensus target and Tuesday’s close at $87.65, which was down over 6% for the day.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and a $55 target price, noting that e-commerce trends remain sluggish. The consensus target is $58.24. Tuesday’s close was at $42.58.

Envista Corp. (NYSE: NVST): Baird downgraded the shares from Outperform from Neutral and lowered the $54 price target to $46. The consensus target is $55.38. The stock closed at $37.09 on Tuesday.

Henry Schein Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC): Baird dropped its Outperform rating to Neutral and cut the $103 target price to $88. The consensus target is $90.73. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $75.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE): Deutsche Bank downgraded the legacy tech company’s stock to Hold from Buy and cut the $18 price target to $16. The consensus target is $17.65. The stock closed on Tuesday at $13.67.

Horizon Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: HZNP): UBS began coverage with a Buy rating and a $139 price objective. The consensus target is $137.46, and the closing share price on Tuesday was $81.27.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN): BofA Securities downgraded the chemical giant to Underperform from Buy and lowered the $45 price target to $34. The consensus target is $46.12. Shares closed on Tuesday at $30.36.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: JAZZ): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $194 target price objective. The consensus target is $202.13. The last trade on Tuesday hit the tape at $143.06.

Leslie’s Inc. (NASDAQ: LESL): Stifel lowered its $29 price target on the poll equipment and supplies giant to $25 while keeping a Buy rating. The consensus target is $26.50. Tuesday’s final trade was reported at $16.05.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: NYCB): B. Riley Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and sliced the $16 target price to $11. The consensus target is $12.96. The stock closed on Tuesday at $9.10.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE): J.P. Morgan lowered its price target to $125 from $146, and it has a Neutral rating. The consensus price target is $136.13. The last trade for Tuesday was reported at $113.72.
Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL): Stifel lowered its $83 price target to $72 while keeping a Neutral rating. The consensus target is $91.17. The shares were on fire Tuesday, closing up almost 11% to $70.72, after the tech giant posted very solid results for the quarter.

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE: PBF): Wells Fargo raised its Equal Weight rating to Overweight with a $57 price target. The consensus target is just $34.25. The closed almost 4% higher on Tuesday at $38.92.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX): BMO Capital Markets began covering the energy giant with an Outperform rating and a $132 target price. That compares with the $114.69 consensus and Tuesday’s closing print of $104.13.

Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC): This software company was selected as the Bear of the Day stock at Zacks, which cited weaker guidance and falling estimates. Shares have traded as high as $59.38 in the past year but closed most recently at $35.97, which is down more than 15% year to date.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SLCA): Evercore ISI upgraded the shares to Outperform from In Line and has a $20 target price. The consensus target is $19.60. The stock closed over 3% higher on Tuesday at $13.90.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X): J.P. Morgan reiterated an Underperform rating on the legacy steel maker, and it lowered its price target to $28 from $34. The consensus target is $34.86. The shares closed on Tuesday at $20.06.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO): BMO Capital Markets began covering the refining heavyweight with a Market Perform rating and a $155 price objective. The consensus target is $135.68. The stock closed Tuesday’s session at $133.75 per share.

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With many top energy companies poised to have a strong second half of 2022, seven stocks with reasonably safe and reliable distributions have room to run and are rated Buy across Wall Street.

Also see which two cryptocurrency stocks J.P. Morgan warns investors to stay away from and which four cybersecurity stocks Jefferies thinks are most likely to benefit from growing security concerns.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Advanced Micro Devices, American Eagle Outfitters, Azek, Bausch Health, Coinbase Global, Dell Technologies, Fidelity National Information Services, Invesco, Marathon Petroleum, Netflix, New Residential Investment, Spotify Technology, Stitch Fix and Volta. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Adobe, AstraZeneca, Best Buy, Chemours, Oracle, Royalty Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical and Tractor Supply.

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