Target (NYSE:TGT) Cut to “Hold” at Daiwa America

Target (NYSE:TGT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Daiwa America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on TGT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $180.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Target in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $168.00 target price on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.30.

Target Stock Performance

Shares of TGT stock opened at $126.55 on Tuesday. Target has a 52 week low of $120.21 and a 52 week high of $181.86. The company has a market capitalization of $58.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.05. 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 (NYSE:TGT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Target will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,418,510.67. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Target by 20.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 217,214 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,484,000 after buying an additional 36,941 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Target in the 1st quarter worth about $77,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Target in the 1st quarter valued at about $107,367,000. Invst LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 33.5% during the 1st quarter. Invst LLC now owns 11,586 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Target by 163.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 168,426 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,847,000 after purchasing an additional 104,529 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Company 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.