7,204 Shares in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Purchased by IFG Advisory LLC

IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,204 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $759,810,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Target during the first quarter valued at approximately $335,870,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Target by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,683,228 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $382,145,000 after purchasing an additional 984,464 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Target by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,163,864 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,447,538,000 after buying an additional 868,274 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors Fund L P purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the first quarter worth approximately $125,536,000. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Target from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Target from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com raised Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.68.

Target Stock Up 0.1 %

TGT stock opened at $153.62 on Friday. Target Co. has a twelve month low of $102.93 and a twelve month high of $181.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $147.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.95. The stock has a market cap of $71.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. Target’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

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

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.