Target (NYSE:TGT) Rating Lowered to Hold at HSBC

HSBC lowered shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. HSBC currently has $138.00 price objective on the retailer’s stock.

TGT has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Target from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Target from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.13.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $125.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.61. Target has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $181.86. The company has a market capitalization of $57.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Target will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

Insider Activity at Target

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $7,140,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. This represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the company’s 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 owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,684 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Invst LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 11,760 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,833,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $326,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in shares of Target by 234.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 7,237 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 5,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 8,140 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. 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.