Fortitude Family Office LLC Sells 242 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Fortitude Family Office LLC trimmed its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,080 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 101.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in Target by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 2,667 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $841,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Target by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,637 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 122.2% during the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,422 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $4,328,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,703,849.54. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Down 2.7%

TGT stock opened at $98.08 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.66. The company has a market cap of $44.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $87.35 and a fifty-two week high of $167.40.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. Target’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Target from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $100.00 target price on Target in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Target from $155.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Bank of America lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $94.00 target price on shares of Target and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.70.

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.