Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirty-two analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, sixteen have issued a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $157.70.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Target from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $170.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,368,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Target during the 4th quarter worth $1,566,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Target by 8.6% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 119,458 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $18,619,000 after acquiring an additional 9,510 shares during the period. Prana Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Target by 47.5% in the third quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 217,081 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $33,834,000 after purchasing an additional 69,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polianta Ltd increased its stake in shares of Target by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 10,300 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Performance

Target stock opened at $134.59 on Friday. Target has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $61.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $135.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.04.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). The business had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Target’s dividend 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.