Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 99.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,697 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 900,105 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Target in the second quarter worth about $37,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on TGT shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Target to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.13.

Target Trading Up 2.8 %

TGT opened at $125.01 on Monday. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $151.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.54. The firm has a market cap of $57.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

Insider Activity

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was 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. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Target 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.