Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,012 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,490 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Target were worth $2,705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Target by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 2,732,801 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Target by 9,940.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,001,391 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $311,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981,458 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Target by 173.2% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $369,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,200 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in Target by 773.1% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $129,795,000 after buying an additional 737,384 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TGT shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.70.

Target Price Performance

TGT opened at $135.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The firm has a market cap of $61.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $135.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.11.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.51%.

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.