Analysts at several of the banks who led the recent initial public offering of Delek Logistics on Tuesday launched formal coverage of the pipeline operator with upbeat ratings. Delek Logistics, which went public early this month at $21 per member interest, is underpriced and will benefit from its growth prospects, say the researchers at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs. Goldman has placed a $26 price tag on the interests, which had slipped back below their IPO price (Ticker: DKL) in the days before Thanksgiving. On Monday, they climbed almost 4 percent to $23.

Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent says holders of Ryman Hospitality Properties shares should be patient. The noise around the conversion of the former Gaylord Entertainment Co. into a real estate investment trust will soon subside and give the investment community a clearer picture of the company. That, Kent says, will draw in more money. He has lifted his price target for Ryman (Ticker: RHP) to $38 from $37. In early trading Tuesday, the stock was changing hands around $32.50.

OK, so we're catching up to the details of the very good day hospital stocks had following President Obama's re-election. Shares of HCA Holdings were upgraded by Matthew Borsch at Goldman Sachs to 'buy' from 'neutral.' Borsch now has a $39 price target on the stock of Nashville's largest company (Ticker: HCA), up from $31. A.J. Rice at UBS has made a similar call regarding Vanguard Health Systems (Ticker: VHS), which climbed 5 percent, respectively, on Wednesday.

Veteran Robert W. Baird researcher Whit Mayo on Wednesday came out in support of Acadia Healthcare, saying the behavioral health play remains a top pick following its strong third-quarter results. Mayo reiterated his 'outperform' rating on the stock (Ticker: ACHC), which has more than doubled in 2012.

Shares of Dollar General are off a couple of percentage points in Thursday morning trading after the company announced the latest in a series of secondary stock offerings led by private-equity investors KKR and Goldman Sachs. If underwriters choose to pick up the overallotment option on this offering, the selling shareholders — which also include seven Dollar General executives — will raise more than $1.7 billion. KKR and Goldman, who have been regular sellers of Dollar General for a number of quarters, will reduce their combined stake in Goodlettsville-based Dollar General to about 22 percent.

Dollar General (Ticker: DG) is up about 25 percent so far this year and has climbed about 130 percent since KKR and Goldman took it public again in late 2009.

The FT reported Friday that SESAC's planned $300 million bond backed by songwriter royalties has been put on ice for a bit by underwriters Goldman Sachs. Proceeds of the offering are slated to pay SESAC's owners a dividend and refinance some of the entity's debt.

The insurer-hospital relationship isn't a simple zero-sum game, but Goldman Sachs' Wednesday downgrade of HMO shares such as Aetna and Humana because of rising costs should be a positive for hospitals' admissions and — if reimbursement rates don't fall too much — their bottom lines. Judging by the stock prices of HCA, CHS, LifePoint and Vanguard, investors didn't feel that way Wednesday, but it's worth noting that the market was in a rather foul mood for much of the day.

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch says the business trends at Community Health Systems are solid and that the shadow of a government investigation into the company's billing practices isn't quite as ominous. Because of that, he has upgraded shares of the Franklin-based company to 'neutral' from 'sell' and lifted his price target to $27 from $19. The move lifted CHS (Ticker: CYH) on Tuesday but the stock hasn't been able to escape the soggy market Wednesday and was changing hands late in the morning at about $24.65.

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler has thrown in the towel on Tractor Supply. Seventeen months after cutting his rating on shares of the Brentwood-based retailer to 'sell' — only to see the stock more than double since — Fassler on Tuesday morning reversed course and lifted his opinion two notches to 'neutral.' The company, Fassler noted, has done a good job absorbing commodity costs and should be able to grow margins in 2012. He has raised his price target to $72 from $67 and hiked his earnings estimates about 4 percent.

SEE ALSO: Other notes on Fassler's Tractor Supply coverage