Target (NYSE:TGT) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $120.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Target traded as low as $101.76 and last traded at $103.29, with a volume of 1332691 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $104.20.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on TGT. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their target price on shares of Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Gordon Haskett cut Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 price target on Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Target has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.55.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $757,892,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,122,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Target by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,968,037 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $536,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Target by 173.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,369,400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $369,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,200 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Target Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $47.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.03.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Target’s 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.