The futures were pointing higher Tuesday, after Monday’s vicious across-the-board sell-off that saw the S&P 500 finally hit a 5% sell-off level following two negative weeks for stocks prior to Monday. Many Wall Street and financial pundits had their fingers pointed toward Evergrande, the wobbling Chinese real estate company with more than $300 billion in liabilities. The company has a reported $83.5 million interest payment due on September 23 and another $47.5 million is due on September 28. According to some reports, the company is starting to repay investors with actual real estate.

While the consumer price index and retail sales last week tempered some of the inflation and growth worries, mounting stagflation concerns continued to pick up amid the ongoing supply chain and input pressures, as well as recovery headwinds from spread of the Delta variant. Toss in the fact that the stock market was horribly overbought and extended, and Monday’s selling should not be a huge surprise. Many across Wall Street think that the Federal Reserve talking heads will offer very tangible tapering hints at this week’s meeting, but strategists also expect monetary policy to remain extremely accommodative.

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, September 21, 2021.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): Loop Capital started coverage of the legacy telecommunications leader with a Hold rating and a $30 price target. The Wall Street consensus target is $31.25 a share. The stock closed trading on Monday at $27.21 per share.

Altice USA Inc. (NYSE: ATUS): Loop Capital started coverage with a Hold rating and a $28 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $40.62. The stock closed Monday at $25.16.

Atlanticus Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: ATLC): JMP Securities initiated coverage with a Market Outperform rating and an $82 price target. The consensus target is just $63. Monday’s final trade came in at $48.41.

Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG): Piper Sandler downgraded the shares to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the target price to $50 from $60. The consensus price target is $55.44. Monday’s last trade came in at $47.52.

Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR): Loop Capital started coverage on the communications and cable giant with a Hold rating and an $800 price target. The $821.50 consensus target is well above Monday’s closing trade of $755.90 a share.

Citi Trends Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRN): Benchmark started coverage with a Buy rating and a $115 price target. That compares with the $136.67 consensus target and Monday’s closing share price of $70.59.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA): Loop Capital started coverage of the broadcasting and cable leader with a Buy rating and a $71 price target. The consensus target is $66.74. The shares closed at $56.49 on Monday.

Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ: COWN): Goldman Sachs started coverage of the boutique brokerage firm with a Sell rating and a $35 price target. The consensus target is considerably higher at $57.40. The stock closed trading on Monday at $33.08.

Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: DNLI): Oppenheimer started coverage with an Outperform rating and an $85 price target. The consensus target is $86.60. Monday’s last trade was posted at $49.86, which was down almost 6% on the day.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR): KeyBanc Capital Markets started coverage with a Sector Weight rating. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $59.52 and $112.50. The consensus price target is $98.05, and Mondays’ closing trade came in at $95.69.

Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT): Stifel started coverage of the cybersecurity leader with a Buy rating and a $355 price target. The consensus price objective is just $291.72. Monday’s final trade hit the tape at $297.07.

Globant S.A. (NYSE GLOB): Goldman Sachs raised the shares to Buy from Neutral and boosted the price target from $235 all the way to $395. The consensus target is $286.30, and Monday’s close was at $313.12 per share.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF): Goldman Sachs began coverage of the fast-growing broker-dealer with a Buy rating and a $45 price target. The consensus target is $39.50. The last trade on Monday was reported at $35.90.
Joann Inc. (NASDAQ: JOAN): This fabric retailer was a pandemic winner but sales have slowed in 2021, so Zacks has selected the stock as its Bear of the Day. Shares last closed at $11.61, and the consensus price target is $15.25.

Lands’ End Inc. (NASDAQ: LE): Zacks has named this apparel retailer as its Bull of the Day stock, citing the strong demand it is seeing as the holidays approach. Its shares most recently closed at $24.01 apiece and have a consensus price target all the way up at $45.00.

Next Era Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: NEP): KeyBanc Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Overweight rating and an $89 target price. The consensus target is $84.61, and Monday’s last trade came in at $78.14.

Oshkosh Corp. (NYSE: OSK): The Jefferies downgrade to Hold from Buy included a target price cut to $105 from $150. The consensus target is $144.71. The shares closed trading on Monday at $105.86.

Steven Madden Ltd. (NASDAQ: SHOO): Jefferies raised its Hold rating to Buy from and also lifted the target price on the popular shoe company’s shares to $50 from $44. The consensus target is $48.22. Monday’s last trade came in at $39.15.

T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS): Loop Capital stayed coverage of the stock with a Buy rating and a $160 price target. The consensus target is $171.03. Monday’s final trade hit the tape at $125.63.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS): Daiwa Securities started coverage of the entertainment behemoth with a Buy rating and a $225 price target. The consensus price objective for the beloved company is $210.23. Monday’s final trade was reported at $178.61.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG): Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform and lifted the target price to $49 from $37. The consensus target price is $41.93, and the stock closed on Monday at $40.26. The shares were up almost 5% in premarket action.

Four top companies are expected to raise their dividends this week, including General Mills and Lockheed Martin.

Be sure to see the five things investors should do now before the big correction comes.

Monday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Adobe, Analog Devices, Big Lots, Colgate-Palmolive, Novartis, Salesforce.com and Workday. More analyst calls were seen later in the day, including on Canadian National, Las Vegas Sands and Texas Instruments.

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