Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Holdings Raised by LVW Advisors LLC

LVW Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 100.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,213 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,608 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Target by 153.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 77,882 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,611,000 after acquiring an additional 47,144 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 6.5% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 168.3% during the 3rd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 14,032 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 8,802 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 5,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Target by 1,356.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Target from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Target from $191.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Target from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.61.

Target Price Performance

TGT stock opened at $148.04 on Monday. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $102.93 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $152.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.33. The stock 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 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 22nd. The retailer reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $24.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.52 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 31.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 49.38%.

About Target

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.