Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 24,610 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 87.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 52,732 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 24,610 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $7,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Target by 1.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,368,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Target by 144.9% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 234,492 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $31,699,000 after purchasing an additional 138,751 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Target by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,977 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,430,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares during the last quarter. Northeast Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Target in the fourth quarter worth about $1,566,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Target by 8.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 119,458 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,619,000 after purchasing an additional 9,510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Target from $166.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Target has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.87.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $107.31 on Thursday. 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 $107.02 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.51. The company has a market cap of $49.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.17. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business had revenue of $30.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.56%.

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.