Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Receives $179.69 Average Target Price from Analysts

by · The Markets Daily

Target Co. (NYSE:TGT – Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $179.69.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TGT. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Target from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “inline” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Target from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th.

Get Our Latest Report on Target

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995 in the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Target

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TGT. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 40,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,733,000 after buying an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 53,736 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,653,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of Target by 1,272.5% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 68,788 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $9,797,000 after buying an additional 63,776 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Target by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 14,574 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,076,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Target by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,217,305 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $173,369,000 after buying an additional 171,408 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $154.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.60. Target has a 52-week low of $105.23 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 EPS. Target’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Target will post 9.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 50.28%.

About Target

(Get Free Report

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.

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