Thursday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Amgen, Biogen, Commscope, Lockheed Martin, ONEOK, Plug Power, Roku and More

The futures were higher across the board Thursday, after a strong risk-off rally Wednesday that saw all of the major indexes close near 1% or higher. Monday’s large sell-off moved the S&P 500 below the 50-day moving average and printed the first 5% drop in a year. It appears the buy-the-dip crowd felt emboldened to jump in Wednesday after watching the market hold its ground this week. Many felt that the buying was in part a result of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande revealing that an interest payment due had been resolved through negotiations with the clearing house. In addition, press reports highlighted chatter that the company secured a deal with bondholders to postpone interest payments to avoid default.

While the consumer price index and retail sales last week 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 spread of Delta variant. Many across Wall Street though that the Federal Reserve talking heads would offer very tangible tapering hints at this week’s meeting, and strategists also expected monetary policy to remain extremely accommodative. Fed Chair Powell noted Wednesday that the quantitative bond buying could be wrapped up by this time next year.

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, September 23, 2021.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN): Daiwa Securities downgraded shares of the biotech leader to Neutral from Outperform and has a $220 price objective The consensus target is up at $250. The stock was last seen on Wednesday trading at $213.64 a share.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. (NYSE: AVB): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of the apartment REIT giant with a Buy rating and a $257 price target. The consensus target is $237.86. The stock closed on Wednesday at $223.48.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB): Needham started coverage of the biotech giant with a Buy rating and a $400 price target. The consensus price objective is up at $417. The final trade for Wednesday hit the tape at $288.32.

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