Microsoft target hike, WisdomTree upgrade: Wall Street’s top analyst calls

The most talked about and market moving research calls around Wall Street are now in one place. Here are today’s research calls that investors need to know, as compiled by The Fly.

Top 5 Calls:

• HSBC initiated coverage of Chubb (CB) with a Buy rating and $263 price target. The firm notes that Chubb offers “best-in-class” expense ratio, underlying combined ratio, and financial leverage. HSBC also started coverage of AIG (AIG) with a Buy rating.
• HSBC initiated coverage of Travelers (TRV) with a Hold rating and $203 price target as the firm started coverage on the U.S. non-life insurers, preferring the commercial segment, and saying premium rates are still rising and “savvy risk management can further enhance the risk-reward equation.” HBSC also initiated Progressive (PGR) and Allstate (ALL) with Hold ratings.
• Northcoast upgraded WisdomTree (WT) to Buy from Neutral with a $9 price target. The shares will ultimately move higher as consensus estimates “catch up and see a business model that is more resilient than it was only a few years ago,” the firm tells investors in a research note.
• CL King initiated coverage of Tennant (TNC) with a Buy rating and $112 price target. The “world leader” in the design, manufacture and marketing of floor cleaning equipment is an “underappreciated story with increasing momentum,” the firm argues.
• Wedbush raised the firm’s price target on Microsoft (MSFT) to $450 from $425 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst cites the firm’s “incrementally bullish” recent artificial intelligence customer checks for the target increase. The firm says that over the next three years, over 60% of Microsoft’s installed base will ultimately be on Co-Pilot’s AI functionality for the enterprise/commercial, which “changes the landscape” for the company going forward. Wedbush views this as Microsoft’s “iPhone Moment,” noting AI is set to change the company’s cloud growth trajectory in the next few years.