Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Has $236.01 Million Position in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,261,496 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 301,195 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.50% of Target worth $236,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 16.1% in the first quarter. DSG Capital Advisors LLC now owns 156,644 shares of the retailer's stock worth $16,347,000 after acquiring an additional 21,726 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 14,354 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,940,000 after acquiring an additional 3,231 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 20.0% in the first quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 60,000 shares of the retailer's stock worth $6,262,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Correct Capital Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Target by 44.7% in the first quarter. Correct Capital Wealth Management now owns 13,556 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 4,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Target by 64.7% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,507 shares of the retailer's stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 3,342 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on TGT. DA Davidson cut their price target on Target from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Monday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Target from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Target from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $115.65.

Target Stock Up 0.2%

Target stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $106.03. 3,468,072 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,096,651. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $48.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.22. Target Corporation has a 1-year low of $87.35 and a 1-year high of $167.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.59.

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

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Target's dividend payout ratio is 50.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider owned 246,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,703,849.54. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.