Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 1,644 Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lowered its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,363 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 1,644 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiducient Advisors LLC grew its position in Target by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 264 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 28,668 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,875,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 5,471 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 10,369 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,402,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on TGT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Target from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Mizuho cut their target price on Target from $92.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.65.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $106.03 on Monday. Target Corporation has a 1-year low of $87.35 and a 1-year high of $167.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $99.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.18. The company has a market capitalization of $48.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.22.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.35). Target had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 25.59%. The business had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.23%.

Insider Activity at Target

In other Target 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company 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.