If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

Ziopharm Oncology (ZIOP) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending January 21, as insiders snapped up 2,426,240 shares of the company's stock at a market value of $11,645,952. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 0.00% and now own 2.44% of ZIOP stock.

Continue reading Insiders Snapping Up Ziopharm Oncology, Schulman and More

Insiders Snapping Up Ziopharm Oncology, Schulman and More originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Deere (DE) to overweight from neutral and raised its target on shares to $65 from $52. JPMorgan believes the company's fundamentals are improving and sees signs of a recovery in forestry, turf and earth-moving equipment.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded Valmont (VMI) to neutral from underweight on valuation following the company's Q4 results. The firm lowered its target price on shares to $70 from $74.
• Soleil upgraded Group 1 Automotive (GPI) to buy from hold on valuation with a $36 price target. The firm believes negative news flow for Toyota has created an opportunity to accumulate shares.
• Bernstein upgraded Deutsche Telekom (DT) to outperform from market perform.
• Nucor (NUE) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• American Eagle (AEO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CTXS, DE, GPI, NTAP, VMI, XNPT ...

Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: CTXS, DE, GPI, NTAP, VMI, XNPT ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Unemployment must not be relevant (GE, ACOM, FNM, ZIOP, MOT, NVDA)

Closing Bell: Unemployment must not be relevant (GE, ACOM, FNM, ZIOP, MOT, NVDA) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• VMWare Inc (NYSE: VMW) was initiated by a host of firms: Banc of America believes the current valuation captures most of the upside potential, and started shares with a Neutral rating and $75 target. Wachovia started shares with a Market Perform rating and Deutsche Bank started shares with a Hold rating and $80 target on valuation. The stock was also started with a Buy rating and $92 target at UBS, with a Buy rating and $100 target at Citigroup and with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan and with a Neutral rating at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Validus Holdings (NYSE: VR) was started with a Buy rating and $29 target at UBS on valuation and benefits from the Talbots (NYSE: TLB) acquisition. Shares were also initiated at JP Morgan with a Neutral rating.
  
• CIBC resumed coverage of Hologic Inc (NASDAQ: HOLX) with a Sector Outperformer rating and $77 target as the firm is positive on Hologic's merger with Cytyc Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTC) and views it as one of the top mid-cap stories in the coming year.

• B. Riley initiated shares of EuroBancshares (NASDAQ: EUBK) with a Buy rating and $10 target.
  
• Rodman resumed coverage of Ziopharm Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: ZIOP) with a Market Outperform rating and $8 target.
  
• Citigroup started shares of Timken Company (NYSE: TKR) with a Buy rating and $43 target.
  
• MercadoLibre Inc (NASDAQ: MELI) was initiated with a Sector Perform rating and $39 target at RBC Capital.

Analyst initiations: VMW, VR and HOLX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has hired Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to find a buyer for its WMC Mortgage subprime mortgage unit, signaling its exit from the mortgage business, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
  
• GE's CNBC cable business news channel and the Financial Times Group are in discussions to share resources and shore up their Web business, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• VeriSign Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN), which oversees dot-com and dot-net domain names registry, has recorded an additional $160M in compensation expenses related to stock option grants made between 1998 and 2006, causing the CFO to resign, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED) has hired financial services company UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) yesterday to pursue strategic buyers.

• From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column:
  
• Investors are paying attention to Arbitron Inc (NYSE: ARB), the media research company that compiles radio ratings.
  
• Ziopharm Oncology (NASDAQ: ZIOP) is testing the use of ZIO-101 arsenic [organic] to treat myeloma and other blood cancers.
• Zoltek Companies Inc's (NASDAQ: ZOLT) carbon fiber used in wind turbines is in-demand, as windmill demand soars as an alternative energy source.

Newspaper wrap-up 7-13-07: GE in the news originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.