Morgan Stanley Cuts Target (NYSE:TGT) Price Target to $112.00

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $160.00 to $112.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the retailer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.42% from the stock’s previous close.

TGT has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $142.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Roth Capital set a $122.00 price target on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 target price on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Target from $140.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.16.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $93.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.70 and a 200-day moving average of $120.93. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $42.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.27. Target has a twelve month low of $87.35 and a twelve month high of $167.40.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.35). Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The company had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Target

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Target by 407.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,970,414 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,666,672,000 after purchasing an additional 12,825,586 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter worth approximately $757,892,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Target by 1,364.3% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,289,692 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $343,312,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065,035 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Target during the fourth quarter worth $297,122,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the first quarter valued at $186,361,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.