Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Purchases 76 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,704 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $812,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TGT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Target by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,527,706 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,923,428,000 after purchasing an additional 702,565 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Target by 26.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,762,227 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $747,699,000 after buying an additional 1,415,900 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Target by 2.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,146,067 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $569,001,000 after buying an additional 134,262 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Target by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 3,569,969 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $394,739,000 after buying an additional 287,748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Target by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,469,168 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $383,586,000 after acquiring an additional 127,491 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Target from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Target from $142.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on Target from $140.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.85.

Target Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of TGT stock opened at $159.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $73.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.17. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $102.93 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its 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 net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The firm had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Target Co. will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Target’s payout ratio is currently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

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

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.