Target (NYSE:TGT) Lowered to Hold Rating by Baird R W

Baird R W lowered shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

TGT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Capital set a $122.00 price objective on Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 price target on Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Target from $166.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $136.03.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT stock opened at $97.42 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.73. The company has a market cap of $44.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.28. 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 has a twelve month low of $87.35 and a twelve month high of $173.05.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $30.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. Target’s payout ratio is presently 50.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Target by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,879 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. InvesTrust boosted its holdings in Target by 1.7% in the first quarter. InvesTrust now owns 46,177 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,819,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 22.8% in the first quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,914 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Target by 25.9% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 70,740 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after acquiring an additional 14,547 shares during the period. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Target by 10.5% during the first quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.