Martel Wealth Advisors Inc Takes $406,000 Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Martel Wealth Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,000 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $406,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake 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 buying an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Target by 11.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $1,461,456,000 after acquiring an additional 130,691 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Target by 6.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $647,652,000 after purchasing an additional 279,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Target by 1.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 62,916 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on TGT. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Target in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Daiwa America cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.23.

Target Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE TGT opened at $133.62 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.15. The company has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.16.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

Target Company 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.