Why Darden Restaurants, Kinder Morgan, and Three Other Stocks Are Trending Today

Ophthotech Corp (NASDAQ:OPHT) is up by around 5% after Anupam Rama, analyst at JPMorgan, hiked his price target on the biotech stock to $110 from $95 per share. Although the market sold off Ophthotech shares on the news that peer Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) reported disappointing results last week from a Phase 2 study of the combination of aflibercept and rinucumab versus the control of aflibercept for the potential treatment of wet AMD, Rama thinks the news means that there is one less potential competitor for the space. The analyst considers there are important differences in mechanisms of actions between Regeneron’s REGN2176-3 and Ophthotech’s Fovista that the market is overlooking in its sell off. According to our data, 27 funds were long almost one quarter of Ophthotech Corp (NASDAQ:OPHT)’s float at the end of the second quarter.

David Long of Raymond James is the latest analyst to lose some faith in Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), at least in the near term. Long downgraded the bank’s stock to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’, noting that the shady sales tactic scandal could result in a period of under-performance for the stock. The various lawsuits, investigations, and fines mask Wells Fargo’s fundamentals, and could cause some investors to stay away from the bank for an extended period of time. A total of 88 funds tracked by us held shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) at the end of June, down by two funds from the previous quarter.

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) is in the spotlight after the company announced that it will trim about one-fifth of its workforce in Sweden in addition to several hundred consultants to improve its competitiveness. The roughly 3,900 job cuts are part of Ericsson’s cost-efficiency initiatives to improve returns on capital. Shares of the company are down 22% year-to-date. At the end of June, 12 investors from our database held 3.5% of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC)’s float.

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