Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Position Trimmed by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 97,953 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 2,759 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Target were worth $13,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 11.7% during 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 1.4% during 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Target by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,832,585 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $518,089,000 after acquiring an additional 234,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 1.9% during 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 worth $517,620,000 after acquiring an additional 62,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on TGT shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Gordon Haskett downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $146.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.55.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $104.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.76 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. 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’s 50-day moving average is $125.89 and its 200-day moving average is $138.13.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 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.