Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Sold by BLB&B Advisors LLC

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,721 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,054 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $1,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Target by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 9,940.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,001,391 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $311,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981,458 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Target by 173.2% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $369,295,000 after buying an additional 1,502,200 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 11.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after buying an additional 1,046,044 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Target by 773.1% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $129,795,000 after buying an additional 737,384 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $131.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $60.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $135.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.98. Target Co. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the topic of several research reports. Daiwa America cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Target from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.70.

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.