analysts took a shine to bank of america’s loan growth and issued mostly positive comments on wells fargo and morgan stanley as wall street sifted through a flurry of earnings updates from major banks this week citigroup’s earnings drew a price cut from one analyst however the results from the four big banks did not appear to inspire any major upgrades or downgrades on any of the stocks a day after they issued their thirdquarter earnings although analysts adjusted their earnings targets in some cases raymond james analyst daniel tamayo said a key takeaway from bank of america’s bac thirdquarter results was loan growth over the last two quarters that has begun to show signs of increased demand see kkr transition highlights challenge for privateequity titans in creating succession plans ‘some managers don’t ever want to retire’  improved calling efforts from commercial relationship managers and growing demand for credit stoked loan increases in the bank’s commercial unit he said small business lending has also started to grow credit card volume is also expected to increase with a boost in seasonal activity in the fourth quarter jefferies analyst ken usdin hiked his 2022 profit estimate for bank of america to 310 a share from 3 and lifted his view on 2023 earnings to 345 from 330 he maintained a hold rating on the company usdin cited higher revenues and better credit partially offset by higher costs jefferies also expects net interest income to increase modestly in the fourth quarter “as higher loan balances premium amortization benefits and additional liquidity deployment” offset a decline in income from the government’s ppp lending program raymond james analyst david long reiterated an outperform rating on wells fargo wfc and said the company’s share price drop on thursday was “undeserved” he hiked his 2022 profit target for wells fargo by 12 cents to 387 a share and increased his 2023 earnings estimate by 12 cents a share to 422 to reflect positive updates from the bank which is valued at a discount to its peers “the quarter was highlighted by modest loan growth favorable credit metrics and an improving core expense base” he said “we remain bullish on wfc shares as we continue to believe profitability is set to improve led by core feebased revenue acceleration expense rationalization continuing and the returning of excess capital to shareholders via share repurchases” see now goldman sachs beats wall street target as investment banking revenue jumps jefferies analyst daniel t fannon reiterated a buy rating on morgan stanley ms and said the bank’s investment banking business is powering its results fannon increased his fourthquarter earnings estimate for morgan stanley to 195 a share from 160 a share and lifted his view for 2022 earnings to 790 a share from 741 a share he also lifted the firm’s price target on morgan stanley to 121 a share from 119 a share “these changes predominantly reflect the ongoing strength in investment banking in the shorttointermediate term” fannon said “growth trends also remain robust within wealth management as net new assets set a record in the period” read credit union ceo says smaller lenders also need to merge to prosper morgan stanley’s investment banking revenue of 28 billion marks the fourth such new high in the last six quarters he said “while the debate around sustainability of investment banking fee levels continues management described current investment banking pipelines as ‘healthy across sectors and regions’ with an expectation that activity will ‘continue on the back of current momentum’” fannon said kenneth leon an analyst at cfra research reiterated a hold rating on citigroup c and lowered his price target by 4 a share to 76 a share but he raised his 2021 earnings estimate for the bank by 30 cents a share to 1035 a share but keeps his 2022 estimate unchanged at 820 a share citigroup faces execution risk in its consumer bank unit downsizing to four asian and europe middle east and africa markets in singapore hong kong united arab emirates and london as well as economic risks in latin america he said global card income fell 3 while its peers showed growth