GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $697,000 in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,011 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of TGT. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 7,059 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 494 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 4.4% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Target by 0.4% in the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,760 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Target from $157.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. TheStreet raised shares of Target from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on shares of Target from $160.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Target from $142.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.85.

Target Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of TGT traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $166.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,889,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,736,716. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $164.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.86. Target Co. has a 52 week low of $102.93 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $76.88 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.14.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.57. Target had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The company had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Target Co. will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Target news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total transaction of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,576,658.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total transaction of $7,538,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 346,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,115,870.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.