Trust Investment Advisors Raises Stock Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Trust Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,175 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Trust Investment Advisors’ holdings in Target were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Target by 12.4% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 59,843 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,327,000 after buying an additional 6,594 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Target by 5.1% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 33,514 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Target during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in shares of Target by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,156 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Target by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 549,363 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $85,624,000 after purchasing an additional 19,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on TGT. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 target price on Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Target from $134.00 to $124.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Target from $133.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.55.

Target Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of TGT opened at $105.37 on Wednesday. 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 1-year low of $101.76 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The stock has a market cap of $48.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.30.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.17. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.83 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.56%.

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.