V Square Quantitative Management LLC Purchases 1,053 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,427 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $1,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TGT. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Target by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 2,732,801 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Target by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Target by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,461,456,000 after acquiring an additional 130,691 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,321,055 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $517,620,000 after buying an additional 62,916 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,053,471 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $475,914,000 after buying an additional 56,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on TGT shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Gordon Haskett lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.70.

Target Stock Up 1.0 %

TGT stock opened at $128.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.44. The stock has a market cap of $58.98 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.15.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

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.