Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 160,734 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,408 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Target were worth $22,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TGT. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 82.8% in the third quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 106.6% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 405 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of TGT stock opened at $167.11 on Tuesday. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $102.93 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock has a market cap of $77.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Target’s payout ratio is currently 49.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total transaction of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at $6,576,658.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total transaction of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at $6,576,658.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total transaction of $7,538,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 346,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Target from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.85.

Target Profile

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.