Wednesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Chesapeake Energy, eBay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, Phillips 66, US Steel and More

Investing

Published: June 15, 2022 8:57 am

Last Updated: June 15, 2022 9:09 am

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.