R Squared Ltd Takes $582,000 Position in Target Corporation $TGT

R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,806 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Target by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,267,577 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $113,702,000 after purchasing an additional 124,371 shares during the last quarter. Winning Points Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at $611,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,194,448 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $605,507,000 after purchasing an additional 142,937 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 41.8% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 111,001 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,453,000 after purchasing an additional 32,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its position in Target by 15.4% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 342,487 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,721,000 after buying an additional 45,803 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Target from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Target from $140.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Target from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Target has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Cara A. Sylvester sold 10,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.89, for a total transaction of $1,258,900.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 45,930 shares in the company, valued at $5,782,127.70. The trade was a 17.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $127.01. The company had a trading volume of 944,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,755,556. Target Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.44 and a 12 month high of $142.82. The firm has a market cap of $57.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.24. Target had a return on equity of 22.92% and a net margin of 3.24%.The firm had revenue of $25.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Target has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Target Corporation will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.24%.

Target Profile

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is a U.S.-based general merchandise retailer headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company operates a network of full-line and small-format stores across the United States alongside a national e-commerce platform and mobile app. Target’s retail assortment spans apparel, home goods, electronics, groceries and household essentials, plus beauty, baby and pet categories. The firm complements national brands with a portfolio of owned and exclusive labels and partnerships that help differentiate its merchandise assortment.

Target traces its roots to the Dayton Company, founded by George Dayton in 1902; the Target discount chain was launched in 1962 and the parent company later adopted the Target Corporation name.