Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Shares Sold by Hartford Investment Management Co.

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,137 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 508 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Target were worth $4,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TGT. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Target during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Target by 56.1% during the first quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 178 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Target during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Retirement Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 85.0% in the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 198 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Target in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Target in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Target from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Target from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.47.

Insider Activity

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Target Stock Performance

TGT stock opened at $148.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $68.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.62, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $152.23. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $105.23 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted 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 net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Target Co. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.28%.

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.