Verity & Verity LLC Increases Stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 115,221 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,538 shares during the quarter. Target comprises 1.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $17,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in Target in the second quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Target during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 156.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Target in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.47.

Target Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:TGT opened at $156.50 on Tuesday. Target Co. has a one year low of $128.37 and a one year high of $181.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $152.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.28%.

Target 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.