Streetbeat News

Analyst Ratings

AMT

A significant bullish stance has been taken on American Tower (NYSE:AMT) by a large investor or institution, as evidenced by a large position showing up on publicly available options history. The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 61% bullish and 38% bearish. Whales have been targeting a price range from $130.0 to $180.0 for American Tower over the last 3 months. The price of AMT is currently down -1.2% at $167.29. Morgan Stanley has maintained their Equal-Weight rating on American Tower, with a price target of $212.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Insights

September 22, 2023 | 7:45 pm

HSY

Piper Sandler analyst Michael S. Lavery has reiterated an Overweight rating on The Hershey Company (HSY), but lowered the price target from $285 to $240 due to soaring cocoa and sugar costs. Cocoa costs are up ~50% and sugar is up ~38% in 3Q23TD. Lavery expects cocoa pricing to roll over in the coming months. He also updated margin assumptions for 4Q23 and 2024 to allow for greater input cost pressure. On the positive side, HSY outperformed peers last year during Halloween, helping it secure a greater share of sell-in with retailers for this year.

Portfolio Pulse from Nabaparna Bhattacharya

September 22, 2023 | 7:39 pm

MS

A large investor has taken a bullish stance on Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), with 17 uncommon options trades spotted. The sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 52% bullish and 47% bearish. Whales have been targeting a price range from $75.0 to $100.0 for Morgan Stanley over the last 3 months. HSBC has downgraded its action to Buy with a price target of $99.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Insights

September 22, 2023 | 7:30 pm

ORCL

Analysts from Goldman Sachs, Piper Sandler, Stifel, and Guggenheim have reiterated their ratings on Oracle Corp (ORCL) following the company's analyst meeting. Oracle's management reaffirmed its FY26 guidance, including $65 billion in revenue and a 45% operating margin. The analysts highlighted Oracle's strong play in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and AI integration, and its potential for growth in the coming years. The company's shares traded higher by 0.11% at $109.55 on the last check Friday.

Portfolio Pulse from Anusuya Lahiri

September 22, 2023 | 7:20 pm

NKE

Morgan Stanley analyst Alex Straton reiterated an Overweight rating on Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) but lowered the price target from $127 to $126. The analyst expects a mostly in-line 1Q24 with an EPS estimate of $0.76. Potential revenue downside on weaker China could be offset by gross margin & SG&A upside. The analyst also anticipates NKE 1Q Greater China revenues could come in closer to the +MSD/HSD % percentage range driven by ~MSD % growth for stores & potentially better online growth.

Portfolio Pulse from Shivani Kumaresan

September 22, 2023 | 7:19 pm

CMG

A significant amount of unusual options activity has been detected for Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG), with a bearish stance being taken by a majority of investors. Of the 11 strange trades detected, 63% were bearish and 36% bullish. The total amount for puts was $218,186 and for calls was $216,520. Whales have been targeting a price range from $1660.0 to $2950.0 for Chipotle over the last 3 months. The current price of CMG is up 0.28% at $1871.29. Several experts have downgraded their ratings but maintained high price targets.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Insights

September 22, 2023 | 7:15 pm

AVGO

GOOG

Truist Securities analyst William Stein reiterated a Buy rating and a $995 price target for Broadcom Inc (AVGO). Despite speculation that AVGO may lose Alphabet Inc (GOOG, GOOGL) as a critical AI computing customer, Stein views this as unlikely. He estimates this potential loss relates to ~55% of AVGO's AI-related revenue, ~11% of total revenue, and ~8% of EPS. Stein remains optimistic about AVGO's fundamentals and themes, including mid-single-digit organic sales growth and double-digit dividend growth.

Portfolio Pulse from Anusuya Lahiri

September 22, 2023 | 7:14 pm

META

MSFT

Citigroup analysts have reiterated their bullish stance on Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT). They believe Meta is gaining a larger share of the online advertising market, with ad loads reaching 19% QTD. They also expect to hear more about Meta's GenAI plans in late October. Microsoft's new updates across Windows, Surface, Designer, and Search, as well as the focus on Designer and potential CoPilot, are seen as intriguing. The analysts also see opportunities for greater advertiser engagement with Microsoft Shopping and M365 Chat.

Portfolio Pulse from Anusuya Lahiri

September 22, 2023 | 7:09 pm

JPM

A significant bearish stance has been taken on JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) by a large investor, as indicated by unusual options activity. The sentiment among these big-money traders is split, with 44% bullish and 55% bearish. The whales have been targeting a price range from $135.0 to $160.0 for JPMorgan Chase over the last 3 months. The price of JPM is currently down -0.95% at $145.74. RBC Capital and HSBC have downgraded their actions on JPMorgan Chase, while Morgan Stanley maintains their Overweight rating.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Insights

September 22, 2023 | 7:00 pm

FDS

BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey M. Silber has reiterated the Market Perform rating on FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) and raised the price target to $436 from $419. The company reported Q4 FY23 sales growth of 7.3% YoY to $535.797 million, slightly beating the consensus. However, adjusted EPS of $2.930 missed the consensus of $3.50. Silber expects FDS to continue gaining market share in the data industry and projects future margin expansion. For FY24 and FY25, the analyst raised revenue expectations.

Portfolio Pulse from Nabaparna Bhattacharya

September 22, 2023 | 6:59 pm