Target (NYSE:TGT) Rating Lowered to Hold at HSBC

HSBC cut shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. HSBC currently has $138.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.13.

Target Price Performance

TGT stock opened at $125.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The firm has a market cap of $57.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $151.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.61.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Target will post 9.58 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other Target news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,210,768.81. This trade represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Target during the second quarter worth $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Target during the third quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Target during the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in Target by 156.5% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.