Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Target Co. (NYSE:TGT – Get Rating) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $180.75.

Several equities analysts have commented on TGT shares. Raymond James dropped their target price on Target from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Target from $217.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Target in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Target from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Target Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of TGT opened at $160.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $74.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.03. Target has a 52 week low of $137.16 and a 52 week high of $254.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.41.

Target (NYSE:TGT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 16th. The retailer reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($0.61). The firm had revenue of $26.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.40 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.17% and a return on equity of 30.51%. Target’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Target will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Target by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,833,900 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,356,122,000 after purchasing an additional 358,425 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Target by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,191,786 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,073,719,000 after purchasing an additional 852,361 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Target by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,177,540 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,213,466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,559 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 122,068.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,793,906 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $711,368,000 after buying an additional 4,789,982 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,423,218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $624,690,000 after buying an additional 953,518 shares during the period. 78.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Target Company Profile

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Target Corp. engages in the operation and ownership of general merchandise stores. It offers food assortments including perishables, dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items. The company was founded by George Draper Dayton in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.