As the US stock markets hold near the flat line, several stocks were either upgraded or downgraded by analysts and rating agencies. Some notable stocks are discussed here.
Upgrades:
Wintrust Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: WTFC) has been upgraded by analysts at Robert W. Baird to the new rating of outperform from neutral, with a price target of $40 a share. Shares of Wintrust Financial were trading higher by 4.36 percent to $34.26 on Tuesday.
Analysts at Barclays Capital upgraded stock rating of Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE) to overweight from equal weight with a revised $28 price target from an earlier target of $23 a share. SEE is currently trading higher by 2.83 percent to $23.96 today.
International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) has been upgraded by analysts at Sterne Agee to buy from neutral, citing acceleration in game popularity. Sterne has a new price target of $23 a share for IGT. Shares of IGT were trading higher by 2.96 percent to $18.07 on Tuesday.
Analysts at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of M&T Bank Co. (NYSE: MTB) to but from neutral, citing strong earning power and attractive dividend. BofA/Merrill Lynch also raised their price target to $100 a share. MTB is currently trading higher by 1.89 percent to $87.80, after the upgrade.
Downgrades:
Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) has been downgraded by analysts at Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch to underperform from buy on Tuesday. Tesoro's stock is trading lower by 0.42 percent to $23.95 after the downgrade.
Analysts at Piper Jaffray has downgraded its rating for AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) to underweight from neutral and has lowered its price target from $26 to $23 on AnnTaylor Stores ahead of the company's release of its quarterly results. ANN is trading down 3.13 percent to $26.04 today.
Sourcefire Inc. (Nasdaq: FIRE) has been downgraded by analysts at UBS to neutral from buy, with a raised price target of $32 a share from $30 a share. UBS downgraded the stock citing, valuation call. Sourcefire is currently trading lower by 1.95 percent to $28.69 a share.
Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) has been downgraded by analysts at UBS to neutral from buy, with a new price target of $37 a share. The downgrade came after the company lowered its earnings guidance for the fiscal first-quarter, citing challenges in its automotive segment tied to the earthquake in Japan. MCHP is down 12.94 percent to $32.63 a share on Tuesday.