Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,015 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,702 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,015 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Target were worth $5,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 40,255 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,733,000 after acquiring an additional 2,219 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in Target by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 16,340 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Target by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 5,638 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Target by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 53,736 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,653,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $257,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Target from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “inline” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,173.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $150.40 on Thursday. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $102.93 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $148.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.28%.

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.