Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Position in Target Corporation $TGT

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 18.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,051,511 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,343,900 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.33% of Target worth $542,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Target by 12.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,925,898 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,195,953,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481,560 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Target by 4.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,736,101 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,624,016,000 after buying an additional 1,529,026 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Target by 1.7% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,247,590 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,602,825,000 after buying an additional 277,176 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter valued at about $578,009,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,051,151 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $453,050,000 after buying an additional 122,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of Target stock opened at $118.72 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Target Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.44 and a 52 week high of $126.00.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $30.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.52 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 22.25%. Target’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Target has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.300- EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be given a $1.14 dividend. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $91.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Target from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore set a $105.00 price target on shares of Target in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on Target from $63.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.45.

About Target

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.