Target’s (TGT) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $165.00 price target on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Target from $165.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Target from $157.00 to $131.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $160.30.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of Target stock opened at $130.11 on Monday. Target has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Target will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,173.88. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Target by 1.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,368,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Target by 8.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 119,458 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,619,000 after purchasing an additional 9,510 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Target in the third quarter worth $967,000. TAP Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Target in the third quarter worth $2,403,000. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Target by 8.7% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,793,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.