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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alphabet, American Air, Domino's, DXC, Toyota, ViacomCBS, Yelp and More
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The futures were lower on Tuesday after the momentum sellers returned on Monday. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed down while the Dow Jones industrials closed higher. The end of the month and quarter pension rebalance has been the reason for much of the recent selling, as $61 billion of shares were sold, but another incident triggered last week’s big selling and perhaps Monday as well. Forced liquidations of positions held by Archegos Capital Management drove severe selling pressure in select U.S. media stocks and Chinese internet American depositary receipts Friday. Both Nomura and Credit Suisse warned of significant losses from the fallout from the hedge fund.
While top strategists on Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and option trading by the WallStreetBets and Robinhood crowd, some say that volume is starting to wane. However, additional huge hedge fund leverage similar to Archegos Capital and initial public offerings that don’t make money continue to show elevated risk tolerance.
With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength, while repositioning portfolios for the start of the second quarter and the rest of 2021.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding new ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.
These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
Akouos Inc. (NASDAQ: AKUS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA Securities, which lowered the price target to $20. No consensus target was available, and the stock closed Monday at $15.59, down almost 11% on the day after its earnings report.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) was raised to Buy from Hold at Stifel, which has a $2,350 price target for the technology giant. The consensus target is $2,319.03, and Monday’s close was at $2,045.79.
American Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies, which also raised the price target to $25. The consensus target is a much lower $15.27. The stock closed Monday at $22.91.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was started with a Market Perform rating and a $400 price target at BMO Capital Markets. The consensus target is $409.04, and the shares closed Monday at $372.08.
DXC Technology Co. (NYSE: DXC) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, where the price target was raised to $44. The consensus target is $30.85, and the last Monday trade came in at $28.54. Shares were up 3% in Tuesday’s premarket.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank, which also raised the price target to $250. The consensus target is $222.57, and the Monday final trade hit the tape at $214.53.
Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: MOH) was started at Credit Suisse with an Outperform rating and a $260 price target. That compares with the lower consensus target of $245.31 and Monday’s closing price of $233.28 a share.
Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE: OVV) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, where the analyst raised the price target to $35. The consensus target is just $25.50. The close on Monday was at $23.56.
Papa John’s International Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) was started with an Outperform rating and a $105 price target at BMO Capital Markets. The consensus target is $108.35, but the shares were last seen Monday trading at $86.61.
RH (NYSE: RH) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that this company posted blowout quarterly financial results last week and the stock has soared since then. Shares most recently closed at $565.90 and have a consensus price target of $582.36.
Seelos Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SEEL) was started with a Buy rating and a $15 price target at B. Riley Securities. The consensus target is $10.67. The stock closed Monday at $4.26
T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TROW) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, though the firm raised the price target on the investment giant to $181. The consensus target is $176.62, and the shares were last seen Monday at $176.97.
Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI) was raised from Market Perform to Outperform with an $86 price target at Keefe Bruyette. That compares with the lower $76.04 consensus target and Monday’s closing print of $69, which was down almost 11%. Some on Wall Street blamed the drop on a major shareholder lowering its position significantly.
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) was started with a Buy rating at Citigroup. The auto giant has traded in a 52-week range of $113.98 to $163.37 and has a consensus target of $182.67. The stock closed Monday’s trading session at $154.90.
ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAC) was raised at Credit Suisse from Underperform to Neutral with a $46 price target. The consensus target is $56.75, and the stock closed Monday at $45.01.
Vital Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: VITL) was started with a Buy rating and a $28 price target at D.A. Davidson. The consensus target is $32.17, and shares retreated over 6% on Monday to close at $19.77.
Yelp Inc. (NASDAQ: YELP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup, which also raised the price target to $46. The posted consensus target is $37.20, and the stock was last seen on Monday at $37.19, down almost 4% for the day.
In addition, Goldman Sachs as four fresh stock picks, including two recent IPOs. Also see which airline has committed to sticking with Boeing and which analyst sees huge upside ahead for Twitter.
Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Array Technologies, Baidu, Credit Suisse, Facebook, Franklin Resources, Twitter and ViacomCBS. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Co-Diagnostics, DocuSign, Dow, Nomura, Sea and more.
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