Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 98,554 shares of the retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 4,553 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Target were worth $10,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 101.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer's stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Target by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,702 shares of the retailer's stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter worth about $232,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Target by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,832,585 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $518,089,000 after purchasing an additional 234,409 shares during the period. Finally, DMKC Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Target in the 4th quarter valued at $1,396,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total transaction of $4,328,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,703,849.54. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TGT. Guggenheim cut their target price on Target from $155.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Target from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Target from $112.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Target from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Target has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $116.70.

Target Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $96.71 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average is $95.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $113.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94. Target Corporation has a 1-year low of $87.35 and a 1-year high of $167.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.63%. Target's payout ratio is currently 49.23%.

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.

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