Court Place Advisors LLC Acquires 208 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Court Place Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,154 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of Target by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,138 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Target by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 45,402 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,042 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its stake in Target by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,109 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Target by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 2,262 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $164.47. 3,668,176 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,796,107. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $102.93 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $75.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $162.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.17.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.83 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.41% and a net margin of 3.85%. Target’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Target’s payout ratio is 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total value of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,576,658.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Target news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total value of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at $6,576,658.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Melissa K. Kremer sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.05, for a total value of $495,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,038,481.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598 in the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Target from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.85.

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.