Target Corporation $TGT Shares Sold by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 252,869 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 33,459 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $22,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 101.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in Target by 39.9% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 38,712 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,040,000 after buying an additional 11,047 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Target by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 3,779 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Target by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 292,694 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $29,426,000 after buying an additional 61,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Probity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Target by 29.9% during the second quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 12,489 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 2,876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TGT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Argus cut their target price on Target from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded Target from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Target from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Target from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.45.

Target Stock Performance

Target stock opened at $116.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Target Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.44 and a 12 month high of $131.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.10. The company has a market cap of $52.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.14.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. Target had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 22.74%. The company had revenue of $25.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be issued a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.34%.

Target Company Profile

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is a U.S.-based general merchandise retailer headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company operates a network of full-line and small-format stores across the United States alongside a national e-commerce platform and mobile app. Target’s retail assortment spans apparel, home goods, electronics, groceries and household essentials, plus beauty, baby and pet categories. The firm complements national brands with a portfolio of owned and exclusive labels and partnerships that help differentiate its merchandise assortment.

Target traces its roots to the Dayton Company, founded by George Dayton in 1902; the Target discount chain was launched in 1962 and the parent company later adopted the Target Corporation name.