Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: AMC Networks, Aurora Cannabis, Dropbox, GE, Kimberly-Clark, Live Nation, Petrobras, Snowflake and More

Investing

Published: May 14, 2021 8:46 am

Last Updated: June 28, 2022 4:56 pm

The futures traded higher across the board on Friday as investors reflected on a very volatile, rollercoaster week and the massive snapback rally in the markets Thursday wherein all the major indexes and the Transportation index closed higher. Still, the speculative electric vehicle group and other momentum issues were tagged hard and ended down. With most first-quarter earnings reports released, investors are starting to factor in rising prices amid a continued tailwind for the market from low, but slowly rising interest rates.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street for tapering of the quantitative easing program and clear building inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained, which could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Note that money markets continue to see massive inflows, which is another big plus.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance of the second quarter and 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 Friday, May 14, 2021.

Allogene Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ALLO): B. Riley Securities started coverage with a Buy rating and a $52 price target. The consensus target is $49, and the shares closed Thursday at $26.94. The stock traded almost 8% higher in Friday’s premarket.

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTR): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $68 price target. That compares with the higher consensus target of $70.60 and Thursday’s last trade of $63.48.

AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX): Goldman Sachs raised the shares to Neutral from Sell and also raised the price target to $51. The Wall Street consensus target is set at $48.45. The stock closed trading on Thursday at $47.45 up almost 3%.

Anaplan Inc. (NYSE: PLAN): Goldman Sachs started coverage on the shares with a Buy rating and a $60 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $81.21, and the stock closed Thursday at $52.24.