Target Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.12 (NYSE:TGT)

Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of 1.12 per share by the retailer on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th.

Target has increased its dividend by an average of 17.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Target has a payout ratio of 42.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Target to earn $10.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.4%.

Target Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of TGT opened at $155.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. Target has a 52 week low of $102.93 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $148.34 and a 200-day moving average of $155.03.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on TGT. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Target from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “inline” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. BNP Paribas started coverage on Target in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $116.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Target from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,173.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.