Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Buys 82,306 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,344,182 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,306 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $238,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Target in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Target during the first quarter worth $38,000. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Target from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Gordon Haskett upped their target price on Target from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.61.

Target Trading Down 0.4 %

TGT opened at $144.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.41. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $102.93 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 22nd. The retailer reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $24.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.52 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.91% and a net margin of 3.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. Analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

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.