The futures were down across the board, as we get set to finish one of the wildest trading weeks in recent memory. It was topped off by strong nonfarm payroll numbers for February, which came in way above the Wall Street estimates of 440,000. The markets were also buoyed initially Thursday by reports that cease fire talks were again being held, despite aggressive Russian bombing of and movement on the capital city of Kyiv.

But the situation has taken a worrisome turn for the worse after Russian forces captured Europe’s largest nuclear plant after a very dangerous attack. Congress is looking at some available options to cut off U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas, and reports suggested that sanctions on Russian oil are apparently still on the table as the administration looks at the global oil impact of the move.

All the major indexes were back in risk-off mode closing down, with the Nasdaq getting hit the hardest, down 1.56%. Oil prices finally backed up some after an incredible 20% or more move in a week, as clearly some profit-taking was the order of the day. The Treasury curve, which had seen three straight days of dramatic moves, once again saw safe-haven buying, but yields moved only modestly lower.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh 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, March 4, 2022.

Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT): Evercore ISI downgraded the stock to In Line from Outperform and dropped the $235 price target to $200. The consensus target is $236. The final trade on Thursday was posted at $162.26, which was down close to 4% for the day.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL): BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform and boosted the target price to $105 from $87. The consensus target is $102.88, and the final trade for Thursday was reported at $90.14.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): RBC Capital Markets upgraded the biotech giant to Outperform from Market Perform and boosted the price objective to $248 from $227. The consensus target is $256.52. The last trade Thursday hit the tape at $211.23.

Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP): Evercore ISI downgraded the real estate giant to In Line from Outperform and has a $129 target price. The consensus target is $127.26. The close on Thursday was at $122.51 a share.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX): J.P. Morgan raised its Underweight rating to Neutral and lifted the price target to $28 from $22. The consensus target is $30.11. The last trade on Thursday came in at $26.55.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX): Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating on the mega-cap integrated energy giant and raised the $140 price target to $160. The consensus target is $149.67. The last trade on Thursday was posted at $156.22.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C): Keefe Bruyette downgraded the financial heavyweight to Market Perform from Outperform and slashed the $81 target price to $64. Atlantic Equities also cut the stock to Neutral from Overweight and has a $70 price objective. The consensus price target is $78.42. The final trade on Thursday was at $57.62, down over 3% on the day.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): Telsey Advisory reiterated an Outperform rating on the retailing colossus and bumped the price target to $615 from $610. The consensus target is $557.12. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $533.05.

GlobalFoundries Inc. (NYSE: GFS): Morgan Stanley raised the shares from Equal Weight to Overweight with a $72.50 target price. The consensus target is $78.60. The final trade for Thursday hit the tape at $62.48, which was up close to 5% for the day.

Golar LNG Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLNG): BofA Securities raised the stock to Neutral from Underperform and lifted the $14 target price to $19.50. The consensus target is $19.90. The last trade on Thursday hit the tape at $17.89.
Grid Dynamics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GDYN): Zacks named this tech services provider as the Bull of the Day stock. The analyst suggests that it could see a “war rally” as many of its employees are Ukrainians. Shares last closed at $10.36 and have a consensus price target of $33.20.

Hub Group Inc. (NYSE: HUBS): Susquehanna downgraded the shares to Neutral from Positive while cutting the price target to $92 from $102. That compares with the $96.36 consensus target and Thursday’s final print of $85.43.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC): Morgan Stanley downgraded the legacy chip heavyweight to Underweight from Equal Weight and dropped the price objective to $47 from $55. The consensus target is $54.28, and Thursday’s closing share price was $47.93.

Kinross Gold Corp. (NYSE: KGC): Credit Suisse downgraded the shares to Neutral from Outperform and sliced the $7 price target to $5.25. The consensus target is $9.75. The last trade for Thursday was at $5.28, after a retreat of close to 3% for the day.

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX): Piper Sandler lowered its Overweight rating to Neutral, and it cut the $114 price target to $94. The consensus target is $113.81. The stock closed at $87.62, down close to 5% on Thursday.

Qorvo Inc. (NASDAQ: QRVO): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight, and its target price dropped to $150 from $185. The consensus target is $186.32. The last trade on Thursday was reported at $131.75, or down nearly 4% for the day.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG): BofA Securities upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and lifted the $15.50 target price to $23. The consensus target is $22. The stock closed on Thursday at $18.65, up close to 6% for the day.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV): Evercore ISI upgraded the popular low-fare airline from In Line to Outperform with a $48 target price. The $54.14 consensus target is higher, and Thursday’s closing print was $41.67.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO): MKM Partners upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and has a $200 target price, The consensus target is $209.22. The shares closed on Thursday at $158.20.
Teladoc Inc. (NASDAQ: TDOC): Argus upgraded the shares from Hold to Buy with a $95 target price. The consensus target is higher at $110.33. The shares closed down almost 5% on Thursday to $69.13.

Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: TER): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight and has a $132 target price. The consensus target is $140.57. The closing share price on Thursday was $114.17.

Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE): HSBC Securities raised its Hold rating to Buy and boosted the target price to $21.50 from $17.25. The consensus target is $19.15. The mining and materials giant was last seen trading at $19.85 a share.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV): BofA Securities downgraded it to Neutral from Buy and slashed the $300 target price to $220. The consensus target is $305.05 for the time being. The shares closed Thursday at $193.16 after retreating 16% as very disappointing forward guidance offset solid quarterly results.

Workhorse Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WKHS): R.R. Lafferty upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and has a $6 price target. The consensus target is $6.36. The shares ended Thursday trading at $3.74.

Six Goldman Sachs stock picks offer a blend of high dividend yield and strong forecast dividend growth, making them ideal for income and growth investors worried about inflation and the very volatile stock market.

See how NFTs may be making climate change worse.

Thursday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Abbott Laboratories, Antero Midstream, C3.ai, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Johnson & Johnson, Opendoor Technologies, Rivian Automotive, Salesforce.com, SoFi Technologies, Target, Trade Desk, Vroom, Workhorse, Zscaler and Zoom Video Communications.

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