Thursday’s futures were fairly negative after a lackluster close on Wednesday. The drop in large part was the outlook given by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. While inflation and unemployment have been large issues recently, and part of the dual mandate of the Fed, the outlook going forward seems to be that rates have to rise to accommodate, but when this happens is indeterminate for now. In the meantime, supply chains recovering and getting more people back to work seem to be the focus.

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 Thursday, June 17, 2021.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR): H.C. Wainwright upgraded the stock to a Buy rating from Neutral and has a $10 price target. Shares closed Wednesday near $4 apiece, in a 52-week range of $2.52 to $9.84. The consensus price target is $5.00.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS): TD Securities upgraded it to Buy from Hold and raised the price target to $43 from $40. The stock was last seen near $34, in a 52-week range of $21.97 to $38.30. The consensus price target is $42.16.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO): Redburn initiated coverage with a Neutral rating. The stock closed near $47, in a 52-week range of $35.83 to $52.59. Analysts have a consensus price target of $53.78 for the stock.

Ambev S.A. (NYSE: ABEV): Barclays its Underweight rating to Equal Weight. The consensus price target is $3.42, and the stock closed at around $3.79 per share. The 52-week trading range is $2.13 to $3.95.

Bandwith Inc. (NASDAQ: BAND): Piper Sandler initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $135 price target. The stock closed near $128, in a 52-week range of $107.01 to $198.60.

Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $188 price target. The shares last closed near $163, and the consensus price target is $169.54.

Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOOT): Citigroup upgraded it to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $92 from $65. The stock most recently closed at $75 and has a consensus price target of $80.40.

Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH): Northcoast downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy. Shares last closed near $37 and have a consensus price target of $56.43.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR): The TD Securities upgrade to Buy from Hold included a price target raise to $800 from $750. The stock was last seen trading near $682. The consensus target is $741.78. The 52-week trading range is $498.08 to $712.41.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO): Argus reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $63 from $60. Shares last closed at $54.67, and the consensus price target is $59.62.

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK): RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $140 price target. The consensus price target is $128.00. The stock has a 52-week range of $67.33 to $124.53 and recently closed near $118 a share.

Voya Financial Inc. (NYSE: VOYA): Citigroup downgraded it to Neutral from Buy and cut the price target to $72 from $73. The stock recently closed near $64 a share, in a 52-week range of $44.81 to $70.68. Analysts have a consensus price target of $75.09.

Goldman Sachs has four top energy ideas on its Conviction List of top stocks to buy, and all offer outstanding growth potential and reasonable entry points, compared to some of the other companies in the sector.

In addition, Wednesday’s wounded meme stocks included AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry. Did Warren Buffett sell Chevron, Synchrony and other stocks too soon? What about GM, Merck, Sirius XM and more?

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Alliance Data, AvalonBay, Boston Properties, Bruker, Camden Properties and CBRE. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Beyond Meat, Carnival, Citigroup, Coinbase and more.

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