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Friday Afternoon's Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Apple, Gilead, Goldman Sachs, Kroger, Raymond James, and More

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Markets turned higher on Friday after facing down a choppy week of trading. The charge higher into the weekend was led by the tech sector and the Nasdaq up about 1.5%. A strong earnings showing from Apple helped feed the optimism, but there are some broader concerns about the economy with inflation coming in hot.

24/7 Wall St. is reviewing some big analyst calls seen on Friday. We have included the latest 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 were on AT&T, Chewy, Fisker, Intel, Las Vegas Sands, Marathon and more.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): New Street upgraded to a Neutral rating from Sell with a $165 price target. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a Buy rating and raised the price target to $199 from $184. Shares were trading around $168 on Friday, and the 52-week range is $116.21 to $182.94.

Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM): DA Davidson upgraded to a Buy rating from Neutral and cut the price target to $75 from $110. Shares were trading at around $58 on Friday. The 52-week range is $46.50 to $176.65.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD): Argus upgraded to a Buy rating from Hold. The 52-week trading range is $61.39 to $74.12, and shares traded near $68 apiece.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS): Odeon downgraded to a Hold rating from Buy. Shares were trading around $343 on Friday, and the 52-week range is $270.62 to $426.16.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR): Citigroup downgraded to a Sell rating from Neutral and cut the price target to $42 from $47. The stock was trading around $43 on Friday, and the consensus target price is $45.80.

Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE: NLSN): Truist downgraded to a Hold rating from Buy and cut the price target to $22 from $25. Shares were trading around $18 on Friday, and the consensus target price is $24.64.

Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF): Seaport Research Partners upgraded to a Buy rating from Neutral with a $125 price target. Shares were trading around $102 on Friday, and the 52-week range is $65.73 to $110.36.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD): RBC Capital Markets upgraded to a Sector Perform rating from Underperform and raised the price target to $241 from $234. The 52-week trading range is $179.37 to $301.34, and shares were last seen trading near $212.

Tractor Supply Co. (NASDAQ: TSCO): Citigroup upgraded to a Buy rating from Neutral and raised the price target to $240 from $230. Shares were trading around $213 on Friday. The 52-week range is $139.11 to $239.86.

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Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest’s position on Tesla takes an unexpected turn. And one key analyst now favors two chip stocks in the automated driving space.

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