Sovran Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 6,164 Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 6,164 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $841,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,461,456,000 after acquiring an additional 130,691 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Target by 1.9% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 62,916 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Target by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,053,471 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $475,914,000 after purchasing an additional 56,695 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on Target from $129.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Daiwa America lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.70.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $132.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $60.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $135.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.67. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The company had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.