Friday Afternoon Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Carnival, Duke Energy, Petco Health and More

With the trading day more than halfway over, the broad markets were somewhat mixed. Although the Nasdaq was lower on the day, both the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 each set new all-time highs in the session. This came after a resoundingly positive July employment report in which payrolls grew more than expected, easing many investor concerns.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest analyst call on each stock, as well as a recent trading history and the consensus targets among analysts.

For those that might have missed it, 24/7 Wall St. had an earlier round of analyst calls on Friday that included BP, Expedia, FireEye, Moderna, Viacom and more.

American Water Works Co. Inc. (NYSE: AWK): Argus upgraded the stock to a Buy rating from Hold and has a $205 price target. Shares traded near $179 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $131.01 to $180.42. The consensus price target is $165.71.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR): Chardan Capital Markets reiterated a Buy rating but lowered the price target to $94 from $97. Shares traded near $67 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $32.86 to $93.66.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL): Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $34 from $30. The stock was trading at around $23 a share on Friday, in a 52-week range of $12.11 to $31.52.

Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK): Vertical Research’s downgrade was to Hold from Buy. The stock was changing hands near $108 a share on Friday, in a 52-week range of $78.95 to $108.06.

Okta Inc. (NASDAQ: OKTA): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $295 price target. The stock traded near $241 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $185.05 to $294.00.

Petco Health and Wellness Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: WOOF): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $24 price target. The stock traded near $198 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $112.03 to $201.68. Its consensus price target is $208.26.

Zscaler Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS): Wolfe Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $285 price target. The stock was trading at around $241 a share on Friday, in a 52-week range of $116.88 to $249.71.

Four top companies are hitting on all cylinders, have earnings out of the way for the quarter and their stocks look poised to head higher the rest of 2021. That’s why Goldman Sachs just raised price targets on all of them.

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