Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Acquired by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,374 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Target by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $647,652,000 after purchasing an additional 279,656 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 11.4% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,316,738 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $639,050,000 after purchasing an additional 440,307 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Target by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,153,875 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $558,898,000 after buying an additional 470,647 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 16.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,114,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $461,031,000 after acquiring an additional 435,229 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Target by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,094,644 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $458,131,000 after acquiring an additional 272,521 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Target in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Target in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.69.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TGT traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $155.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 201,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,943,108. The company has a market capitalization of $72.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $105.23 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $151.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.04.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Target’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is currently 50.28%.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,210,768.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.