Inscription Capital LLC Buys Shares of 15,914 Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Inscription Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,914 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,661,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Target during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC grew its stake in Target by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 264 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Stock Up 2.1%

TGT stock opened at $97.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.65 and a 200-day moving average of $114.78. 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 one year low of $87.35 and a one year high of $167.40.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $24.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down from $131.00) on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Target from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. KGI Securities set a $132.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $105.00 in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 246,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,703,849.54. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.