Target (NYSE:TGT) Coverage Initiated at Melius Research

Equities research analysts at Melius Research started coverage on shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target on the retailer’s stock. Melius Research’s price objective points to a potential upside of 15.25% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. 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 note on Thursday, August 22nd. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Target in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $116.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.69.

Target Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $156.18 on Monday. Target has a 1 year low of $102.93 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $72.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.64.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Target’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Target will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at $1,114,173.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, 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 value 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 $1,114,173.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $7,140,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at $48,210,768.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Target

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TGT. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Target during the 1st quarter valued at $335,870,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Target by 711.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 876,531 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $129,762,000 after acquiring an additional 768,479 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors Fund L P purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the 1st quarter valued at about $125,536,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Target during the 1st quarter valued at about $107,367,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 44.6% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,765,496 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $312,864,000 after purchasing an additional 544,920 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.