Hartford Financial Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,990 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $1,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its position 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 9,940.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,001,391 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $311,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,458 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Target by 173.2% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $369,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,200 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Target by 11.7% during 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 during the period. 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 valued at $129,795,000 after purchasing an additional 737,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Daiwa America lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. HSBC downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Target in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Target from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.70.

Target Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $140.37 on Friday. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.61. The stock has a market cap of $64.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.16.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid 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 yield of 3.19%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.