Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Ally Financial, Carnival, Charter Communications, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Philip Morris and More

Investing

Published: April 9, 2021 8:56 am

Last Updated: April 9, 2021 9:02 am

The futures were mixed on this Friday, after investors watched the S&P 500 close at yet another all-time high Thursday, with all of the other major indexes closing positive as well. While the unemployment numbers came in higher than expected, the continued optimism over the broad reopening of the economy, the tailwind from the stimulus package and the ongoing Federal Reserve pledges to keep interest rates contained are seen as key reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets. It also should be noted that money markets are still seeing massive inflows, which is another big plus.

Some across Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and options trading by the WallStreetBets and Robinhood crowds, but some of that volume is starting to wane. Most investors now will be turning their attention to first-quarter earnings results, which start in earnest next week.

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 Friday, April 9, 2021.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS) was started with an Outperform rating and a $116 price target at Evercore ISI. The consensus target price is $108.06. The last trade on Thursday hit the tape at $111.67.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) was started with an Outperform rating and a $55 price target at Evercore ISI. The consensus price objective for the bank is $52.68, and the last trade for Thursday came in at $47.07.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup, which also lowered the price target to $35. The consensus price target is $41.76, and Thursday’s last trade was at $33.24.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) was started at Goldman Sachs with a Buy rating and a $98 price target. The consensus target is higher at $103.92, and the shares closed on Thursday at $87.63.