Conning Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Conning Inc. lessened its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 95.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,367 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 237,308 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $1,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Target by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Target by 11.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,044 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Target by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,461,456,000 after purchasing an additional 130,691 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,321,055 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $517,620,000 after buying an additional 62,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,053,471 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $475,914,000 after acquiring an additional 56,695 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.70.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of Target stock opened at $131.29 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. Target Co. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $181.86. The company has a market capitalization of $60.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.15.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Target’s payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

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.