Target (NYSE:TGT) Downgraded by Daiwa America to Hold

Daiwa America cut shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TGT. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Target from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. HSBC lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.30.

Target Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $130.09 on Tuesday. Target has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. 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 has a market cap of $59.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $149.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.78.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. Target’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Target will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Target by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,368,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Target by 8.6% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 119,458 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,619,000 after purchasing an additional 9,510 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Target during the third quarter worth approximately $967,000. TAP Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the third quarter worth approximately $2,403,000. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Target by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,793,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% 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.