Wednesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: DraftKings, Halliburton, Moderna, Netflix, Splunk, ViacomCBS, VMware, ZScaler and More

Investing

Published: January 26, 2022 8:54 am

Last Updated: January 26, 2022 10:01 am

The futures were up across the board Wednesday, after another incredible roller-coaster day on Wall Street that saw the venerable Dow Jones industrials claw back from an 800-point loss at midday to finish only slightly lower. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were pounded. Rising interest rates continue to be the story driving many of the sellers, as are the ongoing concerns about Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia.

The Treasury bond market saw the return of the sellers, as yields were higher across the curve on Tuesday. Many across Wall Street cite the hawkish policy shift at the Federal Reserve for the rise in rates, and Wednesday’s Fed policy meeting and statement, while not expected to have a rate increase, will set the tone for things to come.

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, January 26, 2022.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM): Citigroup started coverage with a Buy rating and a $135 target price. The consensus target is $134.86. The shares closed trading Tuesday at $112.56.

Ares Management Corp. (NYSE: ARES): Piper Sandler started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $97 target price. The consensus target is $96.33. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $71.99.

Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF-B): Berenberg upgraded shares of the giant spirits company to Buy from Hold and raised the target price to $76.10 from $69.20. The consensus price target is $72.30. The stock closed on Tuesday at $66.34.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CHUY): Benchmark raised the popular Texas restaurant to Buy from Hold and has a $35 price target. The consensus target is $36.83. The stock closed on Tuesday at $26.19.

Confluent Inc. (NASDAQ: CFLT): D.A. Davidson upgraded the shares from Neutral to Buy with a $76 price target. The consensus target is up at $90.47. The shares were last seen on Tuesday at $56.75, which was down over 3% for the day.

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG): Morgan Stanley raised the popular sports betting site to Overweight from Equal Weight and has a $31 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $56.50. The shares closed Tuesday at $19.32, down almost 4% for the day, but the stock was up close to 7% in premarket action.