Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Target (NYSE:TGT) Stock Price

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its price objective lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $165.00 to $150.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on TGT. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.00.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $113.78 on Tuesday. Target has a twelve month low of $112.53 and a twelve month high of $181.86. The company has a market capitalization of $52.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $132.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $30.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. As a group, research analysts expect that Target will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter worth $118,000. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its position in Target by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,711 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Target by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,883 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,270,000. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in Target by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 48,131 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,506,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Target

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.