Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 6,481,560 Shares of Target Corporation $TGT

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 57,925,898 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,481,560 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Target worth $5,195,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at about $578,009,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Target by 4.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Target by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,223,776 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $219,376,000 after buying an additional 1,273,129 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Target by 96.1% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,165,396 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $213,616,000 after buying an additional 1,060,885 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 61.4% in the second quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,146,742 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $211,776,000 after acquiring an additional 816,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of TGT stock opened at $116.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $52.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.13, a PEG ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.14. Target Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.44 and a 52-week high of $131.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.10.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $25.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.44 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 22.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.85 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Target Corporation will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Target’s payout ratio is currently 55.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TGT. Guggenheim upped their target price on Target from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Target from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Target from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Target has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.45.

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.