Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Purchased by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,893 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $6,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Target in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in Target during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Target by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $153.44 on Tuesday. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $107.13 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $70.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $152.38 and its 200-day moving average is $150.55.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TGT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.47.

Insider Activity at Target

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.