Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 147,826 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 11,918 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Target were worth $19,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its stake in Target by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,764 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 1,482 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in Target by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 9,427 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its stake in Target by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 3,258 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Certuity LLC grew its stake in Target by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Target by 122.2% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,422 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on TGT. Daiwa America cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on shares of Target from $157.00 to $131.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC cut 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 equities research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.70.

Target Stock Down 0.6 %

Target stock opened at $127.86 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.56, a P/E/G 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. Target Co. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

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.