Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 112 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,399 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $1,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in Target by 153.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 77,882 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,611,000 after buying an additional 47,144 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 11,933 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 5,420 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Target by 1,356.3% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 46,427 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,133,000 after acquiring an additional 43,239 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Target by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Target by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,135 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on TGT shares. HSBC raised shares of Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup raised shares of Target from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, TheStreet raised Target from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.61.

Target Stock Up 0.9 %

TGT opened at $148.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Target Co. has a twelve month low of $102.93 and a twelve month high of $181.86. The company has a market cap of $68.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $152.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.22.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 22nd. The retailer reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.02). Target had a return on equity of 31.91% and a net margin of 3.87%. The firm had revenue of $24.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.38%.

Target Company Profile

Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers apparel for women, men, boys, girls, toddlers, and infants and newborns, as well as jewelry, accessories, and shoes; and beauty and personal care, baby gear, cleaning, paper products, and pet supplies.