Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Acquired by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,531 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Target by 82.8% in the third quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Target by 200.8% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 361 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TGT. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Target from $157.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Target from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Target from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $164.74 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $76.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.49. Target Co. has a twelve month low of $102.93 and a twelve month high of $181.86.

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

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued 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 2.67%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.27%.

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.