The futures traded lower Tuesday, after all the major indexes closed higher to start the week, with some solid buying that into the close. The Federal Reserve starts its two-day meeting, which will conclude Wednesday with an expected 75-basis-point increase in the federal funds rate. It would appear that Fed Chair Powell is likely to keep up the hawkish rhetoric for now, and top Wall Street analysts are anticipating the target terminal rate will be in the 4.25% to 4.50% area and could be held there all through next year.

With seasonality in play (September is annually the worst month of the year for stocks), corporate stock buyback windows are being closed as we approach third-quarter earnings season. Finally, with a lack of selling capitulation, the path of least resistance for the equity markets looks to be lower.

Interest rates were higher Monday across the short end of the Treasury curve, while the 30-year bond closed higher with the yield at 3.51%. Both the five-year and 10-year securities closed at 52-week high yields. So did the two-year note, which closed at 3.95%, keeping the inversion with the 10-year in place as it ended the day at 3.49%.

After being down early Monday. both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude closed slightly higher, despite concerns over the strong dollar, the potential worldwide recession and weakening global demand. Natural gas closed lower on Monday. Gold was also down, but Bitcoin ended the day higher.

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 Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE): Wells Fargo downgraded the legacy tech giant to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed the price target to $310 from $425. The consensus target is higher for now at $459.46. The stock closed trading on Monday at $296.06.

Aon PLC (NYSE: AON): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $294 target. The consensus target is $304.50. The shares ended Monday trading at $278.71.

Bill.com Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BILL): Oppenheimer kept an Outperform rating with a $200 target after meeting with the company’s investor relations team. The consensus target is $215.45. Monday’s close was at $144.03.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): Jefferies reiterated its Buy rating on the biotech giant and has a $300 target price. The consensus target is $234.33. The shares closed on Monday at $209.26.

Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating but raised its $159 price objective to $201. The consensus target is $188.05. The stock closed on Monday at $168.50.
CNX Resources Corp. (NYSE: CNX): BofA Securities reiterated an Underperform rating and trimmed the $25 target price to $23. The consensus target is $25.25. The stock ended Monday at $16.81.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $128 target price. The consensus target is $116.78. The stock closed Monday at $88.33, down almost 5% for the day.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG): BofA Securities reiterated a Buy rating and lifted its $119 target price to $134. That compares with a $147.43 consensus target and Monday’s final print of $120.43.

Essex Property Trust Inc. (NYSE: ESS): Citigroup upgraded the real estate giant to Buy from Neutral and has a $295 target price. The consensus target is up at $312.86. Monday’s last trade was reported at $257.52.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (NASDAQ: GLPI): RBC Capital Markets started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $54 target price. The consensus target is $55.51. The shares closed on Monday at $49.11.

Goldman Sachs BDC Inc. (NASDAQ: GSBD): BofA Securities resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and a $16.50 target price. The consensus target is $18.00. The stock closed at $16.79 on Monday.

Heico Corp. (NYSE: HEI): Jefferies upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy with a $180 target price. The consensus target is just $159.64. The shares closed almost 4% higher on Monday at $154.32.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN): The RBC Capital Markets downgrade to Sector Perform from Outperform included a target price cut to $30 from $43. The consensus target is $38.16. The shares closed on Monday at $25.79.

Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG): Citigroup raised its Neutral rating to Buy and lifted its $20 price target to $22. The consensus target is $25.05. The stock closed on Monday at $19.23.

Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC): Stifel reiterated a Buy rating and has a $47 target price. The consensus target is $41.94. The stock closed on Monday at $34.61.

Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH): The Sector Weight rating at KeyBanc Capital Markets rose to Overweight. The firm’s $87 price target is much less than the $114 consensus figure. Monday’s close was at $76.05 a share.

NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR): As Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight, it cut the $38 target price to $27. The consensus target is $41.71. The stock closed on Monday at $23.13.

Northern Gas & Oil Inc. (NYSE: NOG): BofA Securities reiterated a Neutral rating but bumped the $32 target price to $34. The consensus target is up at $47.18. Monday’s close was at $30.88.

Peloton Interactive Inc. (NASDAQ: PTON): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating with a $20 target. The consensus target is $7.07. The stock closed at $9.92 on Monday.

PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM): KeyBanc Capital Markets raised its Sector Weight rating to Overweight and has a $47 target price. The consensus target for the homebuilder is $52.50. The stock closed on Monday at $40.67, up 3% on the day.
PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH): Zacks selected this apparel maker as its Bear of the Day stock, with the analyst suggesting that investors stay away from bleeding stocks with falling estimates. Shares have traded as high as $125.42 in the past year but closed most recently at $54.98, which is down more than 34% in the past six months.

Rubicon Technologies Inc. (NYSE: RBT): Jefferies started coverage with a Buy rating and a $10 target, which is the same as the consensus target. The stock closed almost 5% lower on Monday at $3.58.

Shockwave Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: SWAV): Oppenheimer reiterated an Underperform rating with a $165 target price. The consensus target is $251.29. The stock closed on Monday at $293.49.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating after the company reported leaks on the Grand Theft Auto 6 video game. The analyst has a $180 target price, while the consensus target is $161.67. Monday’s closing print was $125.08.

Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE: TROX): BMO Capital markets downgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform. It also lowered the $21 target price to $16, while the consensus target is $24.44. The stock closed Monday at $13.19, down close to 4% for the day, likely on the downgrade.

UDR Inc. (NYSE: UDR): Mizuho downgraded the shares to Neutral from Buy and trimmed the $48 price target to $46. The consensus target is $54.05. The stock closed on Monday at $43.75.

United Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: UTHR): Wedbush resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $263 target price. The consensus target is $250. The stock closed at $216.89 on Monday.

Verona Pharma PLC (NASDAQ: VRNA): Wedbush resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $27 target. The consensus target is $24.71. The stock closed on Monday at $9.84.

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Monday’s top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Adobe, Coinbase Global, Datadog, FedEx, Fortinet, Hertz Global, Infosys, McDonald’s, Palo Alto Networks, Roblox, Schlumberger, Teck Resources and Zscaler. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Array Technologies, ConocoPhillips, EQT, KB Home, Lennar, NetApp, Netflix and more.

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