Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Lowers Stake in Target Corporation $TGT

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,251 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 5,717 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $4,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Target by 10.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,267,577 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $113,702,000 after buying an additional 124,371 shares in the last quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 446.4% in the third quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,836 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,138,000 after buying an additional 19,474 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 15.4% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 342,487 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $30,721,000 after buying an additional 45,803 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new position in shares of Target in the third quarter worth approximately $8,694,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Target by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 155,222 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $15,173,000 after buying an additional 10,839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of TGT stock opened at $125.18 on Friday. Target Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.44 and a 12 month high of $133.10. The stock has a market cap of $56.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $121.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.47.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.28. Target had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 22.25%. The business had revenue of $30.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Target has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.300- EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be paid a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 56.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 2,053 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.19, for a total value of $240,591.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,038.17. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Target from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $116.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Target from $130.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Target in a report on Friday, February 27th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Target from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Target from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.04.

About Target

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.