Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Sells 775 Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 64.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 425 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 775 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $44,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 101.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $822,000 after buying an additional 3,059 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $165,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Target in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Target by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 56,384 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 6,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Target during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,052,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Target from $155.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Baird R W lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Target from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.65.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of Target stock opened at $104.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.91. The firm has a market cap of $47.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.22. Target Corporation has a 12 month low of $87.35 and a 12 month high of $167.40.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.35). Target had a return on equity of 25.59% and a net margin of 3.95%. The business had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. Target’s payout ratio is 49.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $4,328,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 246,453 shares in the company, valued at $23,703,849.54. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Target Company 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.