Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Sold by First Personal Financial Services

First Personal Financial Services cut its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,930 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 589 shares during the quarter. First Personal Financial Services’ holdings in Target were worth $3,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Target in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Target by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 178 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Target in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in Target by 156.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TGT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Target from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.47.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $149.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.84. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $105.23 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.54 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $7,140,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.