West Family Investments Inc. Makes New Investment in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,349 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 43.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 352 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Target in the 1st quarter worth approximately $103,000. Shell Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Target by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 15,594 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,763,000 after buying an additional 2,838 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Target by 34.7% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 7,238 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after buying an additional 1,866 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Capital Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Target by 1.2% during the first quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 35,409 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,275,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Target from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Target from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Target in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $168.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.47.

Target Price Performance

Shares of Target stock opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $128.37 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $152.84 and a 200 day moving average of $150.32. The firm has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

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 $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is 46.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This represents a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995. Corporate insiders own 0.15% 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.