Social media stocks higher; Twitter rallies on UBS upgrade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Social media stocks were higher on Wednesday, with Twitter Inc up 4.4 percent to $52.86 on heavy volume after UBS upgraded the stock to "buy" and lifted its price target by $15 to $65.

The firm also lifted its targets on LinkedIn Corp, to $260 from $235, and on Facebook Inc by $1 to $95.

UBS's bullish view on Twitter comes after the recent launch of a "Buy Now" button and promoted video ads, the firm wrote.

Those features, along with "the international self-serve ad rollout, and the addition of TapCommerce to Twitter's ad tech stack, all position Twitter strongly along key secular growth areas within digital advertising," it wrote.

Despite the day's gain, Twitter shares have struggled throughout 2014; it is currently down more than 17 percent on the year.

Shares of Facebook rose 1.2 percent to $77.58 and LinkedIn was up 0.5 percent at $229.93. Yelp Inc rose 1.4 percent to $81.98.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)