First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 3,543 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,902 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 3,543 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $7,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in shares of Target by 2.9% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 44,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Target during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $605,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Target by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Target by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 519,634 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $73,819,000 after acquiring an additional 24,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC boosted its position in Target by 109.9% during the 4th quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 27,267 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 14,274 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total transaction of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at $6,576,658.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of TGT stock opened at $164.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. Target Co. has a one year low of $102.93 and a one year high of $181.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $165.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $31.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on TGT shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Target from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Target from $125.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Target from $160.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.85.

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.