Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Stock Position Lifted by M.D. Sass LLC

M.D. Sass LLC grew its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 274,658 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,806 shares during the quarter. Target makes up approximately 3.2% of M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. M.D. Sass LLC owned 0.06% of Target worth $42,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the second quarter worth $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Target during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in Target by 156.5% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Target in the second quarter worth about $37,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on TGT shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Target in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $160.30.

Insider Activity at Target

In other Target news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Target Trading Down 2.1 %

TGT traded down $2.73 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $127.80. The company had a trading volume of 3,302,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,386,121. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $58.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.24. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 47.51%.

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.