Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,592 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Target were worth $26,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Target by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Target by 11.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,555,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,044 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Target by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,461,456,000 after purchasing an additional 130,691 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Target by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,832,585 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $518,089,000 after purchasing an additional 234,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Target by 1.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,321,055 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $517,620,000 after purchasing an additional 62,916 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Capital set a $122.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Target presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.55.

Target Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Target stock opened at $104.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.13. The company has a market cap of $47.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.76 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

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.