Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Decreases Position in Target Corporation $TGT

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. cut its position in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,524 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,472 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Target were worth $2,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Target by 15.6% during the second quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 134,869 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,305,000 after buying an additional 18,177 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Target by 19.2% during the second quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its position in Target by 41.2% during the second quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 171,213 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,891,000 after buying an additional 49,943 shares during the period. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Target by 83.7% during the second quarter. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,182 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Finally, SilverOak Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 91.1% in the second quarter. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,572 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,040 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Target from $102.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Target from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.00.

Target Price Performance

Target stock opened at $90.79 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $93.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Corporation has a 12-month low of $85.36 and a 12-month high of $158.42.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $24.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.84 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.72% and a return on equity of 23.43%. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.57 EPS. Target has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. This is a boost from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Target’s payout ratio is 53.15%.

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.