Target (NYSE:TGT) Price Target Cut to $160.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $195.00 to $160.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the retailer’s stock.

TGT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Target in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.13.

Target Price Performance

TGT traded up $2.31 on Thursday, hitting $123.90. 1,622,880 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,293,558. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.79 and its 200 day moving average is $149.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.24. Target has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90.

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

Target Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Target

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Target during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Target in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Target in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 156.5% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 133 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.