Wolff Wiese Magana LLC Grows Stock Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 156.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 218 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 133 shares during the quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Target during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Target in the second quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Target in the second quarter worth $31,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Target by 56.1% in the first quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 178 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in Target by 85.0% in the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 198 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at $48,210,768.81. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Target from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “inline” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on Target in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.69.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $155.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $72.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.04. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $105.23 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.28%.

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.