Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,449 Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,449 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Target by 82.8% during the third quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Target by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 361 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Target from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Target from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Target from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $206.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.85.

Target Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Target stock opened at $166.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.30. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $102.93 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The company has a market capitalization of $76.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.57. Target had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 3.85%. The business had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Target’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total transaction of $7,538,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Melissa K. Kremer sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.05, for a total value of $495,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,038,481.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.