Accredited Investors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Accredited Investors Inc. lowered its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,308 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,671 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $1,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,981,458 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Target during the 1st quarter valued at about $335,870,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Target by 711.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 876,531 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $129,762,000 after purchasing an additional 768,479 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Target in the first quarter worth about $107,367,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Target by 17.5% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,153,875 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $558,898,000 after buying an additional 470,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Target

In other Target 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Target Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $152.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $127.19 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $152.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.39. The firm has a market cap of $70.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 9.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued 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 2.94%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TGT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa America upgraded Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Target from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.47.

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.