Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,193 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 5,408 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $7,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Target by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 53,968 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,989,000 after acquiring an additional 13,678 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Target by 21.2% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 42,627 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,311,000 after purchasing an additional 7,468 shares in the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 7,179 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Target by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 14,228 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 5,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Target by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,506 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on TGT. Daiwa America cut Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Target from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Target from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.23.

Target Stock Up 0.3 %

Target stock opened at $133.62 on Friday. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.23.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.87 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.51%.

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.