Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $76.23 Million Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 563,942 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,418 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $76,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. State Street Corp boosted its position in Target by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,122,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Target by 173.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $369,295,000 after buying an additional 1,502,200 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 11.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after buying an additional 1,046,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 773.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $129,795,000 after buying an additional 737,384 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TGT. Roth Capital set a $122.00 price objective on Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Target from $153.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Target from $166.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price target on Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Target from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.87.

Target Stock Performance

Target stock opened at $112.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $131.18 and a 200-day moving average of $140.74. The firm has a market cap of $51.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $111.84 and a 1-year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.17. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.83 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.56%.

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.