Facebook Shares Rise - NYTimes.com All is not lost. After a rocky three days as a publicly traded company, Facebook is seeing its shares trade higher on Wednesday. Around midday, the shares were up 4 percent, at $32.25. That is an improvement, but still down 15 percent from the initial public offering price of $38. Trading was again heavy, with more than 42 million shares changing hands by midday. The gain in the shares came even as a number of lawsuits were filed in connection with the I.P.O. A complaint filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan against Nasdaq by a Maryland investor seeking to represent all Facebook investors alleges that the stock market was negligent in how it handled the first day of trading, causing investors to lose money. A lawsuit filed by another investor also seeking class action status in California Superior Court in Los Angeles contends that Facebook made materially misleading statements in its prospectus. A third lawsuit in Federal District Court has been filed on behalf of three investors and seeking class action status against Facebook's underwriters, as well as the company, executives and directors. That complaint also alleges misstatements in the prospectus. Regulators, as DealBook reported on Tuesday evening, are concerned that the underwriting banks may have shared information about Facebook only with certain clients. Analysts for the 33 banks that underwrote the I.P.O. are currently prohibited from publishing recommendations and research during the offering's "quiet period." But other, smaller research shops are not, and two of them issued reports on Wednesday. Needham & Company gave a "buy" recommendation to Facebook, setting a $40 price target. "With over 900 million monthly unique users, we believe FB is an option on the World," Needham's analysts wrote. Facebook "should be valued based on revenue potential from total minutes spent on FB times its powerful margin expansion engine," they wrote. S.&P. Capital IQ, however, started its coverage with a "sell" and a $30 price target. In its note, Capital IQ said: "We think FB has considerable competitive advantages in the social media segment, associated with its global brand, substantial user base, high levels of engagement, and considerable access to valuable user data and information. However, we wonder about the effectiveness of FB's advertising platform and offerings, the margins on marketing messages on mobile platforms, and risks related to access to and use of sensitive personal details.