Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Purchases 935 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,427 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 935 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $1,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted 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 valued at $5,530,576,000 after buying an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Target by 9,940.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,001,391 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $311,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,458 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Target by 173.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $369,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,200 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Target by 11.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Target by 773.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $129,795,000 after purchasing an additional 737,384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TGT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Target in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Target from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Target from $157.00 to $131.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.70.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $128.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.15. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $135.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.44. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.51%.

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.