Premier Fund Managers Ltd Buys New Shares in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,379 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,886,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 21.4% in the third quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 2,610 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $407,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Target in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Target in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,886,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in Target by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 30,644 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,776,000 after buying an additional 9,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Target by 25.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,090 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after buying an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Target

In other Target news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Daiwa America upgraded Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.47.

Target Trading Down 0.4 %

TGT opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. Target Co. has a one year low of $128.37 and a one year high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $152.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.32.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.28%.

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.