Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 42.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,835 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 11,450 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Target by 4.6% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,570,634 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,725,904,000 after buying an additional 1,529,881 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Target by 0.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,374,799 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,693,498,000 after purchasing an additional 92,702 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 95,980.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,537,742 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,762,865,000 after purchasing an additional 18,518,448 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 1.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,300,283 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,371,516,000 after purchasing an additional 80,027 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Target by 24.8% in the first quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,629,713 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,098,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,219 shares during the period. 78.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Target Trading Down 3.5 %

TGT stock traded down $4.26 during trading on Monday, hitting $118.79. The company had a trading volume of 2,066,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,376,537. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.01. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $118.55 and a 52-week high of $181.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 16th. The retailer reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $24.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.18 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.12% and a return on equity of 29.43%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.70, for a total value of $3,921,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 399,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,236,738.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Target from $155.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 7th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Target from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. TheStreet lowered shares of Target from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Target from $163.00 to $142.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.21.

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.