Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Accenture, Coca-Cola, Fastly, First Solar, Lemonade, Marvell, Peloton, Target and More

Investing

Published: March 8, 2021 8:52 am

Last Updated: August 10, 2021 1:08 pm

The futures were mixed Monday morning, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq looking to open much lower. This comes after last week’s wild roller-coaster ride that saw the Nasdaq actually briefly drift into correction territory Friday, before the market turned and exploded higher on the back of the February jobs data that came in way above Wall Street estimates. The major indexes and the Russell 2000 closed up on Friday, and traders got the expected final Senate agreement on the stimulus bill this past weekend. Top analysts on Wall Street continue pointing to “bubble” metrics, like the massive “meme” retail stock and option trading, huge hedge fund leverage and IPOs that don’t make money as examples, so last week’s volatility may stick around.

With fourth-quarter earnings reporting all but complete, most across Wall Street have not only been examining the results but also looking to see what guidance for the balance of the first quarter and the rest of 2021 looks like. With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction, it makes sense for investors to start building some cash reserves while repositioning portfolios for the rest of 2021.

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 Monday, March 8, 2021.

Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) was upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, which also raised the price target to $290. The posted consensus target is $281.36, and the final trade on Friday was reported at $249.51 per share.

Apria Inc. (NYSE: APR) was started at Goldman Sachs with a Buy rating and a $30 target price. There is no consensus target posted as the company had a recent initial public offering. The shares closed Friday at $21.59 apiece.

BankUnited Inc. (NYSE: BKU) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Hovde, which also raised its price target on the shares to $51 from $42. The consensus target is $41.97. The stock closed trading Friday at $43.91, which was up almost 3% on the day.