Analysts Set Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) Price Target at $103.90

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirty-three analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $104.4483.

Several analysts have recently commented on TGT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Target from $107.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore set a $105.00 price objective on Target in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Target from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Target

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Target by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,212,397 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,690,262,000 after acquiring an additional 286,499 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Target by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,772,533 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,692,265,000 after buying an additional 124,468 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Target by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,065,926 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,668,194,000 after buying an additional 561,898 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Target by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,194,448 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $605,507,000 after buying an additional 142,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $587,903,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE:TGT opened at $115.71 on Tuesday. Target has a one year low of $83.44 and a one year high of $130.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $52.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.36.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. Target had a return on equity of 22.74% and a net margin of 3.58%.The firm had revenue of $25.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Target will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $1.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.34%.

About Target

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is a U.S.-based general merchandise retailer headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company operates a network of full-line and small-format stores across the United States alongside a national e-commerce platform and mobile app. Target’s retail assortment spans apparel, home goods, electronics, groceries and household essentials, plus beauty, baby and pet categories. The firm complements national brands with a portfolio of owned and exclusive labels and partnerships that help differentiate its merchandise assortment.

Target traces its roots to the Dayton Company, founded by George Dayton in 1902; the Target discount chain was launched in 1962 and the parent company later adopted the Target Corporation name.