Norden Group LLC Takes $271,000 Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,902 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Target by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Target by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 494 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,887 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Target by 0.4% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,760 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,517,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TGT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Target from $176.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $206.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Target from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Target from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.85.

Target Price Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $156.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.17. Target Co. has a 52 week low of $102.93 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.30.

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

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 346,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,115,870.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total value of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 38,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,576,658.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at $58,115,870.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,600 shares of company stock worth $8,819,598. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Target Company 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.