The futures were mixed on Thursday, as we look to finish what has been a rollercoaster of a first quarter and head into April, which is historically one of the best months for the stock market. The financial media and Wall Street pundits are anxiously awaiting the no-farm payroll numbers for March, which are expected to come in with 450,000 jobs added. All the major indexes closed lower, after stocks had surged 11% over the past two weeks. Many across Wall Street trading desks feel that the recent move higher is nothing more than a bear market rally in what was a very oversold market.

Treasury yields were down across the curve, as institutional accounts may be buying and squaring up portfolios to end the quarter. Brent crude, West Texas Intermediate and spot natural gas all traded up over 3%, while gold finally closed higher after a bad stretch in March.

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 Thursday, March 31, 2022.

Academy Sports + Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ: ASO): Goldman Sachs raised its $54 target price to $61 while maintaining a Buy rating on the popular retail outlet’s stock. The consensus target is $55.73. The final trade on Wednesday was posted at $39.17.

APA Corp. (NASDAQ: APA): Mizuho raised its Neutral rating to Buy with a $56 price objective. The consensus target is $45.26. The final trade on Wednesday was at $41.20 a share.

Aramark Corp. (NYSE: ARMK) Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $45 price target. The consensus target is $41.93. The shares closed on Wednesday at $37.87.

Baker Hughes Co. (NASDAQ: BKR): Wells Fargo upgraded the oilfield services giant to Overweight from Equal and raised the $28 price target to $43. The consensus target is $35.26. The shares closed on Wednesday at $37.35.

Block Inc. (NYSE: SQ): Goldman Sachs began coverage with a Buy rating and a $173 price objective. The consensus target is $183. The shares closed on Wednesday at $140.10.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the shares and has a $19 target price. The consensus target is $19.90. The shares closed at $16.68 on Wednesday.
Compass Inc. (NASDAQ: COMP): Goldman Sachs maintained a Buy rating but slashed the $21 target price to $12. The consensus target is $13.57. The closing share price on Wednesday was $7.96.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the retail heavyweight and boosted the $580 price objective to $620. That competes with the lower $560.74 consensus target and Wednesday’s closing print of $576.47.

HF Sinclair Corp. (NYSE: DINO): Goldman Sachs raised its Sell rating to Neutral and has a $43 price objective. The consensus target is $42.17. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $39.65.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the software leader and has a $588 price target. The consensus target is up at $634.90. The stock closed Wednesday at $471.95.

Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM): Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares to Equal Weight from Overweight but bumped up the $26 target price to $26.50. The consensus target is $26.90. The stock closed Wednesday at $25.00.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating and has a $450 target price. The consensus target is lower at $422.61. Wednesday’s final trade was reported at $376.92.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU): Baird reiterated a Neutral rating on the chip giant and has a $90 target price. The consensus target is up at $112.43. The stock closed on Wednesday at $79.16.

Nerdy Inc. (NASDAQ: NRDY): Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $7 target price. The posted consensus target is $8.75. The shares closed over 5% higher on Wednesday at $5.25.

PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL): Goldman Sachs started coverage with a Buy rating and a $144 target price. The consensus target for the electronic payment heavyweight is higher at $180.77. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $118.49.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the energy heavyweight, and the $99 target price is in line with the $99.17 consensus target. The stock closed on Wednesday at $87.44.

Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD): Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $15 target price. The consensus target is $17.92. The final trade on Wednesday was filled at $14.56.
Roblox Corp. (NYSE: RBLX): MKM Partners started coverage with a Neutral rating and a $55 target. The consensus target is higher at $69.43. The stock closed Wednesday at $48.12.

Skyline Champion Corp. (NYSE: SKY): This homebuilder’s outlook continues to look strong amid rising rates and rising prices across the economy, says Zacks, which has selected the stock as the Bull of the Day. Shares were last seen at $56.44, and the consensus price target of $89.00 would be an all-time high.

Sony Group Corp. (NYSE: SONY): Oppenheimer kept an Outperform rating with a $150 target price. The consensus target is $154.95. The last trade Wednesday hit the tape at $105.19.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN): Seaport Research Partners started coverage with a Buy rating and a $9 target price. The consensus price objective is $7.84. The last trade on Wednesday was for $7.10 per share.

TrueCar Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE): The Zacks Bear of the Day stock has suffered amid vehicle inventory shortages and the broader economic environment, says the analyst. Shares have traded as high as $6.22 in the past year but closed most recently at $3.75.

Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV): Baird maintained an Outperform rating with a $288 target price. The consensus target is $262.05. The stock closed at $214.01 on Wednesday.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ZG): Goldman Sachs began covering the online real estate company with a Neutral rating and a $57 target price on its shares. The consensus target is $71.28. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $51.18.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Five companies pay among the biggest dividends, and their stocks offer growth and income investors solid and dependable ways to stay invested in equities while playing some defense in a market that may be poised for another big leg down.

See whether dividends are luring investors to such consumer staples giants as General Mills and Mondelez.

Wednesday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Adobe, Amazon.com, Carnival, Chewy, Fiserv, Ginkgo Bioworks, Global Payments, Nvidia, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, SentinelOne, Walmart and Workday. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Bank of New York Mellon, SmileDirectClub, Wayfair and more.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.