Channing Capital Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 65,588 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $8,866,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Target by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter worth approximately $297,122,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Target by 173.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $369,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,200 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Target by 11.7% in the third 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. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 773.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $129,795,000 after acquiring an additional 737,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on TGT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Target from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Target from $132.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Daiwa America cut Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.87.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $113.74 on Tuesday. Target Co. has a one year low of $111.84 and a one year high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.63 and a 200 day moving average of $141.07.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.56%.

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.