Target (NYSE:TGT) Upgraded by Citigroup to Buy

Citigroup upgraded shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Citigroup currently has $180.00 target price on the retailer’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Target from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Target from $176.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Target from $125.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Target presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $181.85.

Target Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE TGT opened at $160.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.17. Target has a one year low of $102.93 and a one year high of $181.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.29.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that Target will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares in the company, valued at $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total value of $7,538,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christina Hennington sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.88, for a total value of $786,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 38,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,576,658.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,600 shares of company stock valued at $8,819,598 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. United Services Automobile Association grew its position in Target by 2.9% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 44,232 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $4,891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target in the 4th quarter worth about $605,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Target by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 519,634 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $73,819,000 after buying an additional 24,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC boosted its stake in Target by 109.9% in the fourth quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 27,267 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,883,000 after buying an additional 14,274 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Target Company 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.