Thursday's Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Airbnb, Citigroup, Disney, McDonald's, Netflix, Peloton, Southwest Air, Starbucks, Twitter, Under Armour, UPS and More

Investing

Published: December 16, 2021 8:52 am

Last Updated: December 16, 2021 9:02 am

The futures traded higher Thursday after data and direction from Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell came in largely as expected. While he reminded everyone that tapering quantitative easing isn’t the same as rate tightening, the writing is on the wall for 2022 and beyond, with rate hikes expected every year for the next three years and perhaps beyond. While the inflation issues remain front and center, the central bank still feels that the supply chain logjams will normalize next year, helping to tap the brakes on the runaway inflation.

With much of the Fed initiatives now baked in, Wall Street strategists are continuing to focus on big increases in energy and food costs and other spiraling inflation issues, as well as supply chain concerns and stagflation worries.

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 Thursday, December 16, 2021.

Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNB): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the shares to Sector Perform from Outperform and lowered the price target on the popular home-sharing stock to $175. The consensus price target is $196.88. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $168.14 a share.

Atmos Energy Corp. (NYSE: ATO): BofA Securities upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral and lifted the target price to $107 from $100. The consensus target is $108.67. The closing share price on Wednesday was $98.52.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C): Odeon raised its Hold rating on the money center heavyweight to Buy with a $69.25 price target. The consensus target is much higher at $82.55. The last trade Wednesday came in at $60.24.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW): Citigroup upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and lifted the price target to $142 from $120. That compares with a $126.43 consensus price objective and Wednesday’s closing price of $119.91 per share.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN): Goldman Sachs upgraded the chemical giant to Buy from Neutral and moved the $40 target price to $43. The posted consensus target is $40.86. The final trade on Wednesday was reported at $32.36 a share.