Wall Street's most watched gauge of investor anxiety rose to a three-week high on Friday as stock indexes sold off following a an upbeat jobs report that pushed back market expectations for further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

A Wells Fargo analyst recently raised the company's price target for RTX ( RTX 0.98%) stock to $151 from a previous target of $140 and maintained an "overweight" rating on the stock. As such, it represents a 31% premium to the current price, but is the new target warranted?

A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,