Analyst Upgrades: Urban Outfitters, Citigroup, Cyberark

Analysts are weighing in today on specialty retail company Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), financial firm Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), and online security specialist Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on URBN, C, and CYBR.

• URBN pleased shareholders last evening with its better-than-expected quarterly sales. Ahead of the bell, the stock is pointed 6.8% higher, as bullish analysts have weighed in. No fewer than five brokerage firms raised their price targets on the stock, with Baird setting the bar the highest at $44, while keeping its "outperform" rating. Plenty of analysts are still on the fence when it comes to Urban Outfitters, Inc., though. While 13 of the 27 covering brokerage firms deem the shares a "buy" or better, 14 maintain tepid "hold" opinions. On the charts, URBN has been strong of late. It has outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 13.5 percentage points in the past three months, adding roughly 31% since its annual low of $27.89 on Nov. 18, to close yesterday at $36.51.


• Deutsche Bank adjusted its outlook on several financial companies, including C. The brokerage firm upped its opinion on the stock to "buy" from "hold," and bumped its price target to $54 from $51. The equity has done little on the charts to deserve the praise, losing 13.6% since touching a multi-year high of $56.95 on Dec. 8, settling at $49.21 yesterday. In the options pits, traders have favored calls over puts. Citigroup Inc's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) comes in at 0.75, lower than 78% of all readings from the past year, suggesting short-term speculators are more call-skewed than usual.


• CYBR has seen a 4.5% jump in pre-market trading, after William Blair raised its opinion on the security to "outperform" from "market perform." The shares have hit a rough patch in 2015, as resistance from their descending 40-day moving average has CYBR almost 9% lower year-to-date, finishing at $36.09 yesterday. Cyberark Software Ltd is scheduled to release fourth-quarter numbers after the bell on Thursday, and speculators are taking a bullish stance ahead of the event. In the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), traders have bought to open 11.30 CYBR calls for every put.