U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 recording its second-consecutive weekly loss. The S&P 500 lost 0.13% last week, while the 30-stock Dow slipped by 0.02%.
Wall Street analysts make new stock picks on a daily basis. Unfortunately for investors, not all analysts have particularly impressive track records at predicting market movements. Even when it comes to one single stock, analyst ratings and price targets can vary widely, leaving investors confused about which analyst's opinion to trust.
Benzinga's Analyst Ratings API is a collection of the highest-quality stock ratings curated by the Benzinga news desk via direct partnerships with major sell-side banks. Benzinga displays overnight ratings changes on a daily basis three hours prior to the U.S. equity market opening. Data specialists at investment dashboard provider Toggle.ai recently uncovered that the analyst insights Benzinga Pro subscribers and Benzinga readers regularly receive can successfully be used as trading indicators to outperform the stock market.
Top Analyst Picks: Fortunately, any Benzinga reader can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. One of the ways traders can sort through Benzinga's extensive database of analyst ratings is by analyst accuracy. Here's a look at the most recent stock picks from each of the five most accurate Wall Street analysts, according to Benzinga Analyst Stock Ratings.
Analyst: Brian Bittner
- Analyst Firm: Oppenheimer
- Ratings Accuracy: 88%
- Latest Rating: Reiterated an Outperform rating on Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) with a price target of $186 on March 13, 2024. This analyst sees over 8% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: Darden Restaurants said it will release its fiscal 2024 third quarter financial results before the opening bell on March 21, 2024.
Analyst: Jay McCanless
- Analyst Firm: Wedbush
- Ratings Accuracy: 88%
- Latest Rating: Reiterated an Outperform rating on The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) with a price target of $15 on March 13, 2024. This analyst sees around 14% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On March 12, Geo Group said that its unit GEO Transport got a five-year contract to provide air operations support services on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Analyst: Keith Hughes
- Analyst Firm: Truist Securities
- Ratings Accuracy: 87%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Buy rating on Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) and increased the price target from $250 to $290 on March 15, 2024. This analyst sees over 16% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On Feb. 5, Eagle Materials declared a quarterly cash dividend of 25 cents per share.
Analyst: Justin Post
- Analyst Firm: B of A Securities
- Ratings Accuracy: 86%
- Latest Rating: Maintained a Neutral rating on Airbnb, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) and raised the price target from $155 to $168 on March 14, 2024. This analyst sees around 5% surge in the stock.
- Recent News: On Feb. 13, Airbnb said fourth-quarter revenue increased 17% year-over-year to $2.22 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.
Analyst: Alex Rygiel
- Analyst Firm: B. Riley Securities
- Ratings Accuracy: 85%
- Latest Rating: Reiterated a Buy rating on Alta Equipment Group Inc. (NYSE:ALTG) and cut the price target from $25 to $22 on March 15, 2024. This analyst sees around 99% upside in the stock.
- Recent News: On March 14, Alta Equipment Group posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Read More: Insiders Buying United Fire Group And 3 Other Stocks
