Curat Global LLC Makes New $47,000 Investment in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 450 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 391,098 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $40,815,000 after purchasing an additional 11,122 shares during the period. Oak Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 5.8% in the first quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 26,338 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Target by 13.1% in the first quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 9,756 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 16.3% in the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 5,906 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Target by 4.1% in the first quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,910 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of TGT opened at $97.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. Target Co. has a one year low of $87.35 and a one year high of $167.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $95.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.16.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $24.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.54 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Target from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group set a $110.00 price target on Target and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down from $131.00) on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America downgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 246,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,703,849.54. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.