Bangor Savings Bank Lowers Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Bangor Savings Bank decreased its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 7.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,681 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 560 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Target were worth $697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter worth approximately $757,892,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Target during the 4th quarter valued at about $297,122,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Target by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,968,037 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $536,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,275 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Target by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,338,729 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,532,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Target in the fourth quarter worth about $182,882,000. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on TGT shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Mizuho cut their target price on Target from $92.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Cfra Research lowered Target from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Target from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, KGI Securities set a $132.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Target currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Target Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of TGT stock opened at $97.33 on Friday. 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 one year low of $87.35 and a one year high of $167.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $95.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.12. The company has a market capitalization of $44.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted 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). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The business had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. Target’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

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

Target 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.