Stocks were mixed approaching midday on Friday. All the major indexes posted gains on Thursday, but those gains were tamped down as stocks reversed into the close. The sound you were hearing on Friday was the mad rush of traders fleeing Wall Street for one final vacation weekend before trading starts back in earnest next Tuesday.
The August jobs data came in with the economy adding a very disappointing 235,000 jobs, which was way below the optimistic estimates of 750,000 and a massive surprise to Wall Street pundits. While the economy looks to be improving, one of the main items for investors and those trying to handicap the rest of the quarter and the balance of 2021 is the continuing COVID-19 variant impact as we head to the fall. One very positive item to note is, according to Bloomberg, COVID-19 hospital admissions are falling for the first time since June.
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. Note that analyst calls seen earlier in the day included Aurora Cannabis, Broadcom, Clorox, DocuSign and Paycom.
Aramark Corp. (NYSE: ARMK | ARMK Price Prediction): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Equal Weight rating and a $38 price target. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $24.92 and $43.12, and it has a consensus price objective of $40.42.
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Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX): Barclays upgraded the shares to Overweight from Equal Weight and also boosted the target price to $100 from $93. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $73.122 to $88.31 and has a $92.35 consensus price target.
Cooper Companies Inc. (NYSE: COO): Stifel reiterated its Buy rating and lifted the price target to $475 from $450. The consensus target is $440.82. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $311.94 to $455.81.
Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with an Outperform rating and a $260 price target. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $181.25 and $230 and have a $231.87 consensus price target.
Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE: IR): Citigroup resumed coverage on the industrial giant with a Buy rating and a $62 price target. The lower consensus target is $58.55. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $34.02 and $54.06.
MongoDB Inc. (NYSE: MDB): Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating and raised its target price to $526 from $450. Needham also reiterated a Buy rating on the company and lifted its price target to $534 from $415. The shares have traded between $200.50 and $491.58 over the past 52 weeks and have a $394.38 consensus price objective.
Quanta Services Inc. (NYSE: PWR): Baird reiterated its Outperform rating on the shares and has a $125 price target. The shares have traded between $48.53 and $114.73 over the past year and have a $111.13 price target.
Terminix Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: TMX): RBC Capital Markets resumed coverage with a Sector Perform rating and a $46 price target. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $38.11 and $55 and have a $55.63 consensus target.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA): Baird reiterated an Outperform rating on the global pharmacy giant while keeping a $68 price target on the shares. That compares with a much lower $51.97 consensus target price. The shares have traded between $33.36 and $57.05 over the past year.
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See how the 10 most mentioned meme stocks performed in August.
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