Target (NYSE:TGT) Price Target Cut to $130.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its target price lowered by Evercore ISI from $135.00 to $130.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the retailer’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on TGT. HSBC lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $130.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their target price on shares of Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.23.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE:TGT opened at $116.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $132.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.92. Target has a fifty-two week low of $112.53 and a fifty-two week high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. Equities research analysts forecast that Target will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

Institutional Trading of Target

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 8.6% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 241,447 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $37,632,000 after acquiring an additional 19,095 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Target in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 6.2% in the third quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,283 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 11.0% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,267 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.