Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 1,899 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 999.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,089 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Target by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Target by 11.7% during the 3rd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Target by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,461,456,000 after acquiring an additional 130,691 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Target by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,832,585 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $518,089,000 after acquiring an additional 234,409 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Target by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,321,055 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $517,620,000 after acquiring an additional 62,916 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on TGT shares. Roth Capital set a $122.00 target price on Target in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Target from $166.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their target price on Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.87.

Target Price Performance

Target stock opened at $112.88 on Wednesday. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $111.84 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.74. The company has a market cap of $51.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Target’s payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

Target Company 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.