Wednesday Afternoon’s Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Inovio Pharmaceuticals, McDonald’s, VBI Vaccines, Wingstop and More

Wednesday afternoon's top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Inovio Pharmaceuticals, McDonald’s, Orchard Therapeutics, VBI Vaccines and Wingstop.

Published December 29, 2021, 11:45am ET · 2 min read

A wide shot of a bustling stock exchange floor filled with several male traders in blue uniform-like jackets with ID badges. In the foreground, a fair-skinned man with light brown hair holds a pen in his mouth and claps his hands together, wearing a pink ribbon on his lapel. Behind him, an array of glowing electronic screens displays various financial information and corporate logos, including Barclays, FICO, and Oracle, against a dark blue and green backdrop. To the right, another fair-skinned man in a similar blue jacket and red tie looks intently into the distance. The atmosphere is one of intense activity and focus.
Traders on a busy exchange floor process the news of July's flat wholesale prices, a key indicator that could influence the Federal Reserve's upcoming rate decisions. © Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Markets were somewhat mixed on Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 edging higher with the Nasdaq slipping. Although COVID-19 cases are on the rise globally due to the omicron variant, investors seem to be taking it in stride, as the S&P 500 hit a fresh all-time high earlier this week. With only a few days left in 2021, it remains to be seen if the Santa rally will kick into gear.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Wednesday. We have included the latest 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 Adobe, Paysafe, Riot Blockchain, Shopify, Tesla and more.

Altimmune Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $30 price target. Shares were trading around $9 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $8.10 to $24.61.

Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BTX): Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $9 price target. The 52-week trading range is $3.59 to $80.67, and shares were last seen trading near $4.

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Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS | CTAS Price Prediction): Argus reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $490 from $410. The 52-week range is $314.62 to $461.44, and shares were trading near $444 apiece.

Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX): Sidoti started coverage with a Buy rating and a $14 price target. Shares were trading around $9 on Wednesday, and the consensus target price is $22.00.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Hold rating but lowered the $8 price target to $6. Shares were trading around $5 on Wednesday, and the consensus target price is $13.88.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD): Tigress Financial boosted its $271 target price to $314 and maintained its Buy rating.

Orchard Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: ORTX): Cantor Fitzgerald resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and cut the price target to $9 from $12. Shares were trading around $1 on Wednesday, and the 52-week trading range is $1.16 to $9.08.

VBI Vaccines Inc. (NASDAQ: VBIV): Jefferies resumed coverage with a Buy rating and trimmed the price target to $6 from $7. The 52-week trading range is $2.09 to $4.83, and shares were trading near $2.

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING): Benchmark initiated coverage with a Hold rating. Shares were trading around $172 on Wednesday, and the 52-week trading range is $112.49 to $187.35.

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Chris Lange

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics. Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications. A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

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