Wednesday’s Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Masco, Micron, Plug Power, Smith & Wesson, Virgin Galactic and More

Wednesday’s futures were somewhat muted, despite private payrolls rising in June. The ADP job report saw payrolls increasing by 692,000, notching a sixth consecutive monthly rise. The service sector saw the largest increase in jobs, with leisure and hospitality jobs leading the charge. This all seems to be a recurring theme for the reopening trade, but what investors are looking forward to is June’s unemployment report on Friday.

Wall Street is concerned about tapering of the quantitative easing program, but despite a clear building of inflationary pressures, the Federal Reserve is vowing to keep interest rates contained. That could be one reason for the continued moves higher in the equity markets, even after sell-offs. Another big plus is the continued massive inflows into money markets.

With major Wall Street firms still warning of the potential for an impending 5% to 10% correction across the board, it makes sense for investors to continue building some cash reserves into the market strength while repositioning portfolios for the coming quarter and the rest 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 for Wednesday, June 30, 2021.

Allegro MicroSystems Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGM): William Blair initiated coverage with an Outperform rating. Shares last closed near $28, and the consensus price target is $35.43.

AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ: APP): Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to an Underweight rating from Overweight and cut the price target to $68. The stock closed near $83 per share. The 52-week trading range is $49.41 to $90.03.

Apria Inc. (NASDAQ: APR): Citigroup resumed coverage with a Buy rating and a $33 price target. The stock last traded near $27, in a 52-week range of $20.07 to $34.50.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQT): Mizuho initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $58 price target. The stock closed near $26, in a 52-week range of $17.51 to $38.49. Analysts have a consensus price target of $55.43.

Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (NYSE: CDAY): Barclays downgraded it from Equal Weight to Underweight with a $98 price target. The stock closed near $100, in a 52-week range of $67.67 to $111.93.

Hexel Corp. (NYSE: HXL): Credit Suisse’s upgrade to Neutral from Underweight rating included a price target hike to $64 from $47. The stock most recently closed at $61 or so and has a consensus price target of $56.78.

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS): Zacks named this solar play as its Bear of the Day stock. The firm pointed out that the company recently beat earnings but estimates have ticked lower. Shares last closed at $57.56, but the consensus price target is way down at $38.69.

Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS): Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target by two bucks to $73 a share. They closed most recently near $58 apiece, and the consensus price target is $70.55.

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