Target (NYSE:TGT) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Target (NYSE:TGT) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on TGT. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.70.

Target Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of TGT stock opened at $124.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.15. Target has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.67.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.87 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TGT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $757,892,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Target by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $297,122,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Target by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,968,037 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $536,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Target by 173.2% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $369,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.