Carret Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Carret Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,316 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 209 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $7,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter worth $297,122,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Target by 173.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $369,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,200 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Target by 11.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 737,384 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on TGT shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down previously from $131.00) on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Target from $133.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.87.

Target Trading Down 2.7 %

Target stock opened at $104.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Target Co. has a one year low of $104.01 and a one year high of $181.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $129.97 and its 200 day moving average is $140.26.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $30.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.83 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. Target’s payout ratio is 50.56%.

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.