Investing

Wednesday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: American Airlines, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Rite Aid, Wells Fargo and More

The futures have turned mixed on Wednesday after investors took profits on a wild Tuesday that saw the S&P 500 post an intra-day all-time high before closing lower, the Nasdaq closing at an all-time high and the Dow Jones industrials closing down over 200 points, after being down more than 400. Two of the biggest stories the week were OPEC failing to reach a consensus on production levels and Chinese technology scrutiny after the DiDi app was ordered to be taken down from mobile app stores in China. The company just went public last week, and the shares were hammered Tuesday, closing down almost 20%.

Despite the concerns across Wall Street about tapering of the quantitative easing program and a clear building of inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be among the reasons for the continued moves higher in the equity markets even after sell-offs. It also should be noted 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 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 Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (NYSE: AMG): Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised the price target on the shares to $246 from $213. That compares with a much lower Wall Street consensus price target of $169.75. The stock closed trading on Tuesday at $166.80, which was up almost 7% on the day.

Allegheny Technology Inc. (NYSE: ATI): BofA Securities upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underperform and also raised the price target to $22 from $15. The posted consensus target is $24.50. The shares retreated almost 3% on Tuesday to close at $20.37.

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