Piscataqua Savings Bank Sells 150 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Piscataqua Savings Bank decreased its holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,710 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank’s holdings in Target were worth $178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 101.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in Target by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 22,679 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,066,000 after acquiring an additional 5,573 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Target by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,903 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Target by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,228 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Target by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 66,553 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $8,996,000 after acquiring an additional 9,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Target from $155.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Cfra Research cut Target from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Target from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Target from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Target presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.70.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $4,328,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 246,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,703,849.54. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Performance

Target stock opened at $97.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $87.35 and a 1-year high of $167.40.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.23%.

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.