Target (NYSE:TGT) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $165.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock.

TGT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup downgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $188.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Daiwa America upgraded Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $161.63.

Target Stock Up 4.4 %

TGT opened at $130.50 on Monday. Target has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $60.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The business had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Target will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is 47.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Target

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Target by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,530,576,000 after buying an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Target by 9,940.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,001,391 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $311,937,000 after buying an additional 1,981,458 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Target in the first quarter valued at approximately $335,870,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Target by 173.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $369,295,000 after buying an additional 1,502,200 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 11.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.