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Wednesday Afternoon Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Activision Blizzard, Alibaba, Ambev, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sea and More

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Markets pushed higher later on Wednesday following the Fed’s announcement to start tapering its pandemic-era asset purchases. This announcement was a long-time coming and while many investors may have seen this coming, markets digested this policy decision fairly easily. Industrials and Utilities seemed to be the only sectors taking the hit.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Wednesday. We have included the latest call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day were on Clorox, Exxon, Ford, Lyft, Shopify, T-Mobile and more.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI): MKM Partners downgraded to a Neutral rating from Buy and cut the price target to $75 from $108. Morgan Stanley downgraded to an Equal Weight rating from Overweight and the price target was cut to $65 from $120. Barclays reiterated an Overweight rating and cut the price target to $95 from $107. Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating and cut the price target to $98 from $125. Shares were trading around $67 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $64.55 to $104.53.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA): Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $275 price target. Shares were trading above $166 on Wednesday, and the consensus target price is $241.89.

Ambev S.A. (NYSE: ABEV): BofA Securities upgraded to a Neutral rating from Underperform and raised the price target to $3.50 from $3. Shares were trading near $3, and the consensus target price is $3.42.

Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR): JPMorgan downgraded to an Underweight rating from Overweight and raised the price target to $225 from $100. Deutsche Bank downgraded to a Sell rating from Hold but raised the price target to $210 from $119. Shares were trading near $297 on Wednesday, and the consensus price target is $133.17.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY): Loop Capital downgraded to a Sell rating from Hold. Shares were trading above $19 on Wednesday, and the consensus price target is $18.47.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS): Raymond James downgraded to an Outperform rating from Strong Buy and cut the price target to $130 from $160. The 52-week trading range is $85.82 to $159.54, and the share price is near $94.

Ferrari N.V. (NYSE: RACE): Societe Generale upgraded to a Buy rating from Hold and raised the price target to $290 from $240. The consensus price target is $183.71, and shares were changing hands near $255 or so apiece.

Sea Ltd. (NYSE: SE): Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and a $427 price target. The 52-week range is $155.10 to $372.70, and the share price is near $354.

The Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU): Credit Suisse reiterated an Underperform rating and cut the price target to $19 from $23. RBC Capital Markets reiterated a Sector Perform rating and cut the price target to $23 from $27. Deutsche Bank reiterated a Hold rating and cut the price target to $18 from $25. The 52-week trading range is $17.10 to $26.61, and the share price was around $18.

The home run results for the financial sector this past quarter show that strong momentum should remain a tailwind. So will interest rates creeping higher. The top large-cap financials likely will continue to post very solid numbers, and five big bank stocks look very attractive.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continues to reduce its stake in Palantir. Wednesday’s early meme stock movers included AMC and Bed Bath & Beyond.

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