Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,179 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $647,652,000 after buying an additional 279,656 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 11.4% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,316,738 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $639,050,000 after buying an additional 440,307 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 16.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,114,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $461,031,000 after buying an additional 435,229 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 9.7% in the second quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,094,644 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $458,131,000 after buying an additional 272,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Target by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,053,471 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $475,914,000 after purchasing an additional 56,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on TGT shares. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.13.

Target Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $125.01 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $151.27 and a 200 day moving average of $149.54. The company has a market cap of $57.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.58 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Target’s payout ratio is 47.51%.

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.