LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) stock rose Thursday after Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an outperform rating and a price target of 260-270.

LinkedIn stock was near 228, up 3.5%, in afternoon trading on the stock market today.

“Though the competitive landscape is fierce, we view LinkedIn as a pioneer in building the largest professionally oriented social network, where benefits accrue to active members, employers and business-to-business marketers,” Wells Fargo said, as reported by TheStreet.com.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Martin Pyykkonen also issued a bullish report on LinkedIn Thursday.

“LinkedIn is among the best-positioned Internet companies fundamentally going into 2015, in our opinion, especially in terms of the global total addressable market and limited competition in the core business,” Pyykkonen wrote.

“In addition to LinkedIn’s core revenue base in the Talent Solutions portfolio, we think the company’s Sales Solutions portfolio development will emerge as another significant growth leg driver,” he said.

Several analysts upgraded their price target on LinkedIn stock on Oct. 31 after the company reported third-quarter earnings that erased concerns about slowing growth.

According to Thomson Reuters, 10 analysts have a strong buy rating on LinkedIn, while another 19 have a buy rating and 10 a hold.

Follow Brian Deagon on Twitter @IBD_BDeagon.