Target (NYSE:TGT) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by Bank of America

Target (NYSE:TGT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $105.00 target price on the retailer’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.89% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on TGT. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $142.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Target from $124.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.16.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $93.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.70 and a 200 day moving average of $120.93. Target has a twelve month low of $87.35 and a twelve month high of $167.40. The firm has a market cap of $42.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.35). Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The company had revenue of $24.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. Target’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Target

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 0.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 135,974 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $14,183,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 119.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,398 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Target by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,917 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,532,000 after buying an additional 28,214 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Target by 0.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 95,879 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $10,006,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrity Alliance LLC. raised its position in Target by 187.1% in the first quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 22,706 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 14,797 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.