Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Stake in Target Corporation $TGT

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 17.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 113,507 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Target were worth $11,197,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TGT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Target by 407.8% during 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 buying an additional 12,825,586 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Target during the second quarter valued at approximately $595,839,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Target by 1,364.3% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,289,692 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $343,312,000 after buying an additional 3,065,035 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Target during the first quarter valued at approximately $186,361,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Target by 35.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,370,062 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $560,420,000 after buying an additional 1,406,653 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TGT shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (down from $105.00) on shares of Target in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Target in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Loop Capital set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Target from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.00.

Target Stock Performance

TGT opened at $97.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.67 and a 200 day moving average of $96.43. Target Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $85.36 and a fifty-two week high of $158.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $24.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.84 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.72% and a return on equity of 23.43%. Target’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. Target has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 53.15%.

Target Profile

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.