Jefferies Hits Refiners; WST Gets Rare Upgrade

Jefferies analyst Lloyd Byrne cut both MPC and VLO to Hold from Buy on Monday. The twin downgrades signal a souring view on US refining margins. Marathon Petroleum carries a $113B market cap. Valero is similarly sized at $113B. Byrne set a $413 target on Marathon and $401 on Valero. Neither stock carries heavy short interest — SI sits below 3.5% of free float for both — suggesting short sellers have not yet piled in behind the analyst call.

Elsewhere, WST — West Pharmaceutical Services — received a rare upgrade from consensus. The drug packaging specialist has a $25B market cap. Its new average target price of $407.56 compares to the prior $405.38. Short interest on WST is just 3.1% of free float, and availability is extremely high at 3,701% of SI, meaning very few bears are positioned against it.

Jefferies also raised its target on META to $875 — well above the consensus average of around $710. Analyst Brent Thill kept his Buy rating. META commands 56 Buy ratings versus just six Holds. MSFT also saw its consensus target nudged higher to $576.