FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Sells 79 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH cut its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,790 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Target were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Somerset Trust Co lifted its holdings in Target by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 17,387 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,350,000 after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 56,193 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,596,000 after purchasing an additional 5,408 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,961,000. Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Target by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 20,431 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC raised its holdings in Target by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 27,604 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,732,000 after purchasing an additional 11,425 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on TGT shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Target from $180.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Target in a report on Monday, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.23.

Target Trading Up 0.3 %

TGT stock opened at $133.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.23.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.51%.

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.