Wednesday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Dick’s Sporting Goods, Kimberly-Clark, Nordstrom, Roblox, TJX and Zoom Video

The futures were mixed Thursday morning. With the Jackson Hole Symposium on for this weekend, it is uncertain where markets will go from here. The build-up to this weekend has been fairly strong, with rallies on both Monday and Tuesday, although Wednesday was somewhat muted. As it stands now, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are once again holding near new all-time highs.

Across Wall Street, the focus this week will be the commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who will be speaking via videoconference at the annual Economic Policy Symposium on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Despite worries and the potential for a “taper tantrum” like we saw in 2013, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. Recent Fed commentary suggested that the tapering of the $120 billion per month purchase of government and mortgage debt could be in the works by the end of the year and purchases could be completed by the end of 2022. That could become clearer this week.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, which may have seen beginning last week, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into any market strength while repositioning portfolios for the balance 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 Thursday, August 26, 2021.

AFC Gamma Inc. (NASDAQ: AFCG): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $24 price target. The consensus target is $26.70. The shares closed on Wednesday at $21.11.

Allakos Inc. (NASDAQ: ALLK): Morgan Stanley started coverage with an Equal Weight rating and an $88 price target. The consensus target is higher at $149.22. The final Wednesday trade was reported at $84.52.

Blade Air Mobility Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDE): Credit Suisse started coverage with an Outperform rating and a $14 price target. The consensus price objective is $16.00, and the stock closed Wednesday at $7.95.

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI): Citigroup downgraded the stock to Neutral and cut the price target to $15. The shares have traded between $9.81 and $27.02 in the past year. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $13.62.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS): Raymond James upgraded it to a Market Perform from Underperform. The consensus target is $115.33. The last trade on Wednesday was reported at $129.60.

Fate Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE): Morgan Stanley started coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $77 price target. That compares with a $108.24 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $72.94.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB): Zacks selected this as its Bear of the Day stock. The analyst pointed out that, after the pandemic catapulted sales, growth is now slowing much faster after than the maker of Kleenex anticipated. Shares last closed at $135.72, and the consensus price target is $139.96.

Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MRTX): Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $160 price target. The shares have traded between $130.60 and $249.42 in the past year and closed on Wednesday at $155.88.

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