Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 900,105 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 99.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,697 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 900,105 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Target during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Target by 156.5% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Target in the second quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TGT. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $157.00 to $131.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In related news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of TGT stock opened at $125.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $151.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.54. Target Co. has a 52 week low of $120.21 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). The company had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Target’s payout ratio is 47.51%.

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.