Apple, Tesla, Beyond Meat, Amazon & more

Check out the companies making headlines midday Monday:

Apple — Shares rallied 3.5{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} as its long-awaited 4-for-1 stock split took effect. That gain made the tech giant the best-performing Dow component and put the stock up more than 30{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} since the split was announced July 30.

Tesla — The stock popped more than 8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} in the final day of August as investors snapped up the popular electric car company on the back of a 5-for-1 stock split announced earlier this month.

Virgin Galactic — A Cowen analyst initiated Virgin Galactic with an outperform rating, sending the stock up 0.5{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}. In a note to clients, the analyst said Virgin Galactic “is uniquely positioned to benefit from the growing consumer interest toward luxury experiences, especially among high-net-worth individuals.”

Walmart — Shares of the retailer slipped over 3{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} following a downgrade to hold at R5 Capital. “We see a more muted outlook for sales over the next 12 months,” the firm said on Monday. R5 Capital has a $147 target on the stock, which is abut 9{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} above where it currently trades.

Beyond Meat — Beyond Meat gained more than 2{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} after Citi upgraded the alternative meat company to neutral from sell. The bank said it expect more food-service operators to add plant-based meat offerings to their menus, and Beyond Meat will get more market share over time both in the U.S. and overseas. The stock has soared more than 75{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} this year amid a surge in demand.

Rackspace Technology — Shares of the cloud company jumped 5.7{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} after a host of Wall Street firms initiated coverage on the stock. Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BMO Capital markets and Evercore ISI all gave the company buy-equivalent ratings. “We expect RXT to sustain 20{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f}+ FCF growth in a consistent manner driven by high single digit sales growth, stable to modestly improving margins and lower capex,” Evercore ISI said in a note to clients.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals — The health care stock popped 7.8{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} after SVB Leerink said in a note that the company was well positioned for industry competition for treatments for a rare blood disease. The firm said that Alexion’s market valuation is “significantly underappreciated” and could be a takeover target for larger pharmaceutical companies.

Amazon — Amazon shares rose 2{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} after the Federal Aviation Administration approved the e-commerce giant’s plans to operate a fleet of drones for its Prime Air delivery service. 

—CNBC’s Pippa Stevens, Yun Li, Michael Bloom and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.