Sanford C. Bernstein Initiates Coverage on Target (NYSE:TGT)

Equities research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) in a report released on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating and a $168.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.32% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on TGT. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Target from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa America raised shares of Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.30.

Target Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $150.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Target has a one year low of $105.23 and a one year high of $181.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.42.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Target will post 9.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Target

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Little House Capital LLC purchased a new position in Target during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,041,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Target by 23.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 642,340 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $112,686,000 after purchasing an additional 122,706 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Target by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,558 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $11,618,000 after buying an additional 6,690 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Target in the 1st quarter valued at about $13,958,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Target by 864.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 57,613 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $8,205,000 after acquiring an additional 51,639 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.