The futures traded lower Friday, as we get ready to close out yet another volatile week on Wall Street. The quadruple witching option and futures expiration Friday could be just the spark for a wild and wooly ride for investors, not unlike Thursday. After the first interest rate increase since 2018, most of the financial media chatter focused on the somewhat hawkish tone to the Fed statement, which laid out six additional interest rate hikes this year and three next year. All the major indexes closed higher for the third straight day, while oil moved back over $100 a barrel and the price of gold was up over 1%, after a string of down days.

The buyers Thursday came back into the Treasury market early, as yields across the curve traded lower across all the maturities, before the sellers returned later in the day to push the 10-year note and the 30-year bond yields marginally higher. The initial buying was likely a combination of the quad witching expiration and some safe-haven purchasing by big institutional accounts.

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 18, 2022.

AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV): Baird raised its $72 price target on the shares to $95 while keeping an Outperform rating. The consensus target is $81.29. The last trade Thursday was reported at $93.46, which was up 15% for the day, as drones made by the company are on the way to Ukraine, per published reports.

Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL): Raymond James upgraded the insurance heavyweight to Strong Buy from Outperform and lifted the $145 price objective to $165. The consensus target is lower at $135.08. The shares closed Thursday at $130.92, up nearly 4% on the day.

Apellis Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: APLS): Baird raised its price target on the stock to $90 from $83, and it kept an Outperform rating. The consensus target is $71.27. The last trade on Thursday was reported at $46.84, a gain of close to 4% for the day.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating and has a $30 price target, citing the company’s very positive analyst day. The consensus target is higher at $32.38. Thursday’s final trade was reported at $27.28, up close to 5% for the day.

ChemoCentryx Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and has an $85 price objective. The consensus target is lower at $77, but Thursday’s closing share price was just $25.25, even after a pop of almost 5% on the day.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on the legacy tech giant and has a $60 target price. The consensus target is up at $63.91. Thursday’s closing trade was reported at $56.17.

Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ: COWN): Goldman Sachs lowered the price target on the boutique brokerage firm to $29 from $33, while keeping a Sell rating on the shares. The consensus target is much higher at $51. The stock closed Thursday at $27.10, down almost 5% on the day.

CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX): RBC Capital Markets raised its Sector Perform rating to Outperform and bumped the $37 target price to $39. The consensus target is $39.92. The final trade for the railroad giant for Thursday was posted at $36.30.

Evercore Inc. (NYSE: EVR): Goldman Sachs slashed the $141 price target to $123, though it kept its Neutral rating. The consensus target is $157. The final trade on Thursday was at $116.68.

FIGS Inc. (NASDAQ: FIGS): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the health care apparel company, and it has a $45 target. The consensus target is just $31.30. The stock closed on Thursday at $18.90.

IHS Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: IHS): Goldman Sachs reiterated its Buy rating on the European tower giant, but it lowered the $29 target price to $20. That compares with a $22.40 consensus target and Thursday’s closing share price of $10.49.

Inspirato Inc. (NASDAQ: ISPO): Stifel started coverage with a Hold rating and a $10 target price. The consensus target is $14, and the stock closed at $9.50 on Thursday.

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ): Goldman Sachs sliced its $41 target price on the shares to $35 but maintained a Neutral rating. The consensus target is up at $48.38. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $34.15.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB): Zacks ponders whether Wall Street has dumped this stock, the Zacks Bear of the Day, because Apple’s privacy policies are hurting the tech firm’s mobile advertising-based business far more than previously projected. Shares have traded as high as $384.33 in the past year but closed most recently at $207.84, which is down more than 38% year to date.

MongoDB Inc. (NASDAQ: MDB): UBS upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and hiked the $345 target price to $450. The consensus target is $462.06. The stock was last seen on Thursday trading at $372.43. That was up over 8% after the company expanded its strategic collaboration with Amazon.com. Shares were higher yet in Friday’s premarket.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE): Stifel lowered its $202 target price on the athletic shoe and apparel giant to $160 while maintaining a Buy rating. The consensus target is $171.85. The stock closed on Thursday at $127.41.
ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ON): Zacks has selected this as its Bull of the Day stock. The analyst points out that the company is coming off a strong 2021, driven by its focus on growth areas within the automotive and industrial markets. Shares last closed at $60.76, and the consensus price target of $73.92 would be an all-time high.

Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS): Cleveland Research’s downgrade was to Neutral from Buy. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares have traded in a wide range of $21.92 and $88.83, and they have a $41.17 consensus price objective. The last trade for Thursday hit the tape at $24.89.

Semtech Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTC): Stifel cut the price target on the Buy-rated company to $95 from $102. The $92.20 consensus target is also well above Thursday’s closing share price of $69.41, which was up just over 4% for the day.

SentinelOne Inc. (NYSE: S): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the cybersecurity leader, but the firm also lowered the $79 target price to $68. The consensus price objective is $48.78. The stock closed almost 8% higher on Thursday to $37.67.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating with a $288 target price. The consensus target is $266.05. Thursday’s closing share price was $191.76.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM): Baird kept a Neutral rating on the upscale retailer while dropping the target price on the company to $175 from $185. The consensus target across Wall Street is $181.47. Thursday’s last trade was filled at $160.69 up close to 6% after posting huge earnings.

Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS): Baird maintained the stock at Outperform and has a $300 price target. The consensus target is $330.15. The last trade on Thursday came in at $214.83.

A recent survey of global fund managers found that many have turned to health care for some stability in these uncertain times. These eight high-dividend-paying stocks are rated Buy at top Wall Street firms and look very attractive now for worried investors.

Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Adobe, American Airlines, Coupa Software, Delta Air Lines, Host Hotels & Resorts, Nio, Novo Nordisk, Ralph Lauren, Roblox, SentinelOne and Walt Disney. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Capital One Financial, Norwegian Cruise Line, Synchrony Financial, TuSimple, Zions Bancorp and more.

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