Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Sells 331 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 16.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,651 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,945,524 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,401,142,000 after buying an additional 417,818 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Target by 9.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,531,846 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,357,525,000 after buying an additional 137,180 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $759,810,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Target by 17.5% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,153,875 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 470,647 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Target Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Target stock traded up $2.71 on Friday, hitting $149.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,426,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,565,830. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $102.93 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.98 and a 200-day moving average of $154.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 22nd. The retailer reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $24.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.52 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.91% and a net margin of 3.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on TGT shares. Citigroup raised Target from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Target from $191.00 to $181.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Gordon Haskett raised their price objective on Target from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Target in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $116.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.57.

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.