Investing

Friday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: BioMarin, Dick's Sporting Goods, Freeport-McMoRan, Northrop Grumman, Simon Properties, US Steel and More

The futures were positive on Friday, as we complete the first trading week of June. Investors were once again on a wild roller-coaster trading ride Thursday, as the meme stocks were once again front and center. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) was all over the map, at one point trading down to $33.76 and then closing at $51.34. There could be more fireworks in order as the May nonfarm payrolls will be out Friday morning. Analysts are looking for 650,000 jobs to be added, after the ADP May employment report showed an addition of 978,000 new jobs.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street about tapering of the quantitative easing program and the clear building inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained, which could one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Also 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 June 4, 2021.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: ADS): BofA Securities downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and has a $130 price target. The consensus price target is $133.43, and the final trade for Thursday came in at $122.82.

Argenix S.E. (NASDAQ: ARGX): Baird resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and raised the price target to $346. The consensus target is slightly higher at $349.10, and the stock closed on Thursday at $266.30.

Bank OZK (NYSE: OZK): Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and also raised the target price to $55. The consensus target is just $46.40. The stock closed Thursday at $42.95.

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