TD Cowen Lowers Target (NYSE:TGT) Price Target to $145.00

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its target price dropped by analysts at TD Cowen from $165.00 to $145.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the retailer’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.99% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on TGT. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Target from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Target from $165.00 to $130.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.13.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $125.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Target has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $181.86. The stock has a market cap of $57.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.69.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Target’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Target

In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Target

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Target by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after buying an additional 2,732,801 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Target by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Target by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,461,456,000 after acquiring an additional 130,691 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Target by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $647,652,000 after purchasing an additional 279,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Target by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,316,738 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $639,050,000 after purchasing an additional 440,307 shares in the last quarter. 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.