First Personal Financial Services Sells 73 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

First Personal Financial Services lowered its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 0.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,519 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Target were worth $3,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,159,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Target by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 306,606 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $45,390,000 after purchasing an additional 115,485 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Target by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 71,531 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,590,000 after buying an additional 14,408 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Target by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 902,802 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $133,651,000 after buying an additional 5,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Target by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 657 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Target from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “inline” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.68.

Target Stock Up 0.1 %

TGT traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $153.62. The company had a trading volume of 3,884,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,042,306. The company has a market cap of $71.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.19. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $102.93 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 31.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 9.31 EPS for the current year.

Target Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a boost from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at $48,210,768.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.