Centaurus Financial Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Centaurus Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,704 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 281 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Target during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Target in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Target during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in Target by 156.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on TGT shares. StockNews.com lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.30.

Target Price Performance

TGT opened at $126.55 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $150.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $149.05. 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 $58.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.51%.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.