Three S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stocks just earned major upgrades from leading brokers.
One is an international plastics packaging company.
Another is a diversified mining services company with its own sizeable iron ore and lithium operations.
And the third is a uranium mining and exploration company with projects in Africa and Australia.
Any guesses?
Keep those in mind as we move on to the big reveal.
(Broker figures as of 2 May, courtesy of The Australian.)
ASX 200 stocks earning broker upgrades
The first ASX 200 stock earning a broker upgrade is Amcor PLC (ASX: AMC).
The Amcor share price is up 6% in 2024, currently trading at $15.04 a share.
But Macquarie believes the global plastics company has more gains to offer. The broker raised Amcor to an 'outperform' rating with a $15.40 price target.
Now that only represents a 2.4% upside from current levels. But don't forget the dividends. Amcor shares also trade on an unfranked dividend yield of 5.0%.
Which brings us to the second ASX 200 stock receiving a broker upgrade, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN).
The Mineral Resources share price is up 5% year to date, currently trading for $74.40 a share.
And if Morgan Stanley has it right, those gains could be the tip of the iceberg.
The broker just upped its target price for Mineral Resources shares by 24% to $83.00 a share. That's almost 12% above current levels.
Mineral Resources shares trade on a fully franked trailing dividend yield of 1.2%.
Which brings us to the third ASX 200 stock earning a broker upgrade, Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN).
(Did you guess all three?)
The Paladin share price is up 54% in 2024, currently trading for $15.11 a share.
Now Paladin shares kicked off 2024 trading for 98 cents apiece. So, you'd be forgiven for thinking I've stuffed up my maths here.
However, on 11 April the company instituted a shareholder approved 10-1 reverse split.
This reduced the total number of shares from 2,984,656,146 to 298,465,615. And it meant that shares previously valued at $1.52 opened on the day at $15.20.
Not that shareholders enjoyed a ten-fold gain, mind you. As they held only 10% of their previous number of Paladin shares, they were equally well off.
As for what to expect next from this ASX 200 stock, amid a strong global outlook for uranium demand, Citi has upped its price target by 17% to $17.00 a share.
That's almost 13% above current levels.
Paladin doesn't pay dividends, as yet.
