Apella Capital LLC Takes Position in Target Corporation $TGT

Apella Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,264 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $673,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Target by 10.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,267,577 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $113,702,000 after acquiring an additional 124,371 shares during the period. Winning Points Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter valued at $611,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,194,448 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $605,507,000 after purchasing an additional 142,937 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 15.4% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 342,487 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,721,000 after purchasing an additional 45,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Target by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 155,222 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $15,173,000 after purchasing an additional 10,839 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on TGT. Freedom Capital cut Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Argus set a $150.00 price objective on Target in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Target from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Target from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Target from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $162.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cara A. Sylvester sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.89, for a total value of $1,258,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 45,930 shares in the company, valued at $5,782,127.70. This represents a 17.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $140.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $128.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.69 billion, a PE ratio of 18.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.00. Target Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.44 and a fifty-two week high of $142.82.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.24. Target had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $25.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Target has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.24%.

Target Company Profile

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.