The futures were lower Friday, as we look to close out one of the wildest trading weeks of 2021 where another strong risk-off rally pushed all of the indexes up big on Thursday. The dip-buying crowd made their presence felt again Thursday following Wednesday’s kick-the-can down the road Federal Open Market Committee policy guidance, which kept the quantitative easing tapering guidance and size pretty much as expected.

Wall Street traders and investors also responded reasonably well to negative-sounding news out of China, where officials were asking local governments to prepare for troubled real estate giant Evergrande’s possible downfall. In addition, the softer-than-expected flash September Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index numbers out of the eurozone was another negative that was basically ignored.

While the recent consumer price index and retail sales data has tempered some of the inflation and growth worries, mounting stagflation concerns continued to pick up amid the ongoing supply chain and input pressures, and recovery headwinds from the spread of the Delta variant. Federal Reserve assurances that rates will remain accommodative continue to provide a tailwind for equities.

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, September 24, 2021.

Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHC): UBS started coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and an $81 price target. The Wall Street consensus price objective is $73.62. The last trade for Friday hit the tape at $65.15 per share.

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAM): Stifel resumed coverage on the red-hot biotech with a Buy rating while raising the price target on the shares to $120 from $85. The consensus target is $128.57. The final trade on Thursday was reported at $98.13 a share.