Wednesday’s futures were relatively flat after a slight pullback on Tuesday. Crude oil is continuing its push above $72, and energy stocks look primed for a solid summer if this trend continues. Bitcoin dropped back below $40,000 after swinging all over the place in the past week. As markets seem to be settling down after a fairly volatile few months, investors are looking for more yield and it is becoming more of a stock picker’s market by the day. One thing that everyone is watching on Wednesday is the Biden-Putin summit at the G7 conference.

Despite the resurfacing concerns across Wall Street for tapering of the quantitative easing program and a clear building of inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Also note that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

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 coming 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 Wednesday, June 16, 2021.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $126 price target. The consensus price target is $133.43, and the stock closed at around $114 per share. The 52-week trading range is $38.88 to $128.16.

Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: AGTC): BTIG Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and an $11 price target. Shares closed Tuesday near $4.50 apiece, in a 52-week range of $3.53 to $9.67. The consensus price target is $15.78.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with a Peer Perform rating and a $238 price target. The stock was last seen near $211, in a 52-week range of $131.38 to $216.64. The consensus price target is $208.05.

Beauty Health Co. (NASDAQ: SKIN): Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $21 price target. The stock closed near $18, in a 52-week range of $9.71 to $18.86.

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP): Wolfe Research started coverage with a Peer Perform rating and a $142 price target. The shares last closed near $122, and the consensus price target is $117.17.

Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR): Cleveland Research upgraded the stock to a Buy rating from Neutral. The stock most recently closed at $75 and has a consensus price target of $73.08.

Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT): Wolfe Research started coverage with a Peer Perform rating and a $150 price target. The stock was last seen trading near $134. The consensus target is $133.29. The 52-week trading range is $85.74 to $135.64.

CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $112 price target. Shares last closed near $89 and have a consensus price target of $96.33.

Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC): UBS downgraded it to Neutral from Buy and cut the price target to $83 from $91. The consensus price target is $82.80. The stock has a 52-week range of $22.39 to $74.92 and recently closed near $71 a share.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day stock, saying that disappointing fourth-quarter earnings were a direct result of the global chip shortage. Shares last closed at $79.33, and the consensus price target is $99.27.

Elanco Animal Health Inc. (NYSE: ELAN): Cleveland Research upgraded it to Neutral from Underperform. The stock closed near $35, in a 52-week range of $20.55 to $36.53. Analysts have a consensus price target of $34.80 for the stock.

Guardant Health Inc. (NASDAQ: GH): Raymond James initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating. The stock recently closed near $118 a share, in a 52-week range of $77.50 to $181.07. Analysts have a consensus price target of $171.83.

Stifel believes that if the judge rules in favor of Epic Games in its case against Apple, some of the top video game stocks would get a huge boost. Four of them are rated Buy at the firm and could be great ideas for aggressive growth stock investors.

See how Warren Buffett’s first-quarter stock picks are faring, as well as which meme stocks were crushed on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Campbell Soup, Exact Sciences, Exelixis, Pool, Spirit Airlines and ZTO Express. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Alliance Data, Cimarex Energy, Myriad Genetics and more.

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