Renasant Bank Acquires New Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Renasant Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,719 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 8.3% in the 3rd 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter worth $297,122,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 11.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,555,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,044 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 773.1% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 832,766 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $129,795,000 after acquiring an additional 737,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America cut their price target on Target from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Roth Capital set a $122.00 target price on Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.87.

Target Price Performance

NYSE TGT opened at $104.71 on Friday. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $103.46 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $129.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.88. The company has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.17. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The business had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. On average, analysts predict that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued 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 4.28%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 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.