Burney Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Burney Co. reduced its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,921 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 10,920 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Target were worth $1,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,762,865,000 after purchasing an additional 18,518,448 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the 4th quarter worth $725,870,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Target by 87.1% in the 2nd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,058,551 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $667,223,000 after buying an additional 2,355,191 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Target in the second quarter valued at $239,625,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Target by 252.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,166,161 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $358,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TGT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their price target on Target from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Target from $161.00 to $157.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Target from $185.00 to $168.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $193.00 target price on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.16.

Target Stock Performance

TGT opened at $129.94 on Friday. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $102.93 and a 1-year high of $181.70. The company has a market capitalization of $59.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.18.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 15th. The retailer reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.28 billion. Target had a return on equity of 30.69% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Target Co. will post 7.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.12%.

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.