Kanawha Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Target Corporation $TGT

Key Points

• Kanawha Capital trimmed its stake in Target by 21.7% in Q4, selling 21,628 shares and leaving 77,923 shares valued at about $7.62 million.
• Analysts remain mixed: Target has a consensus "Hold" rating with an average price target of $117.39, though several firms raised targets (Guggenheim to $140, Wells Fargo to $130); analyst breakdown is 11 Buy, 18 Hold, 3 Sell.
• Target beat quarterly EPS ($2.44 vs. $2.16) while revenue declined 1.5% year-over-year, set Q1 guidance near $1.30 and FY guidance of $7.50–$8.50, and announced a $1.14 quarterly dividend (≈3.5% yield).

Kanawha Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,923 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 21,628 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC's holdings in Target were worth $7,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Target by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,925,898 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,195,953,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Target by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,648,065 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $3,377,031,000 after purchasing an additional 911,964 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Target by 38.6% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 1,913,883 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $170,278,000 after purchasing an additional 533,416 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Target by 17.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,162,050 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $311,911,000 after purchasing an additional 461,495 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Target by 21.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,408,505 shares of the retailer's stock worth $210,865,000 after buying an additional 425,081 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Target from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore set a $125.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Target from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Target in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Target from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Target has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $117.39.

Target Stock Performance

NYSE TGT opened at $130.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Target Corporation has a twelve month low of $83.44 and a twelve month high of $133.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $118.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.85. The firm has a market cap of $59.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.28. Target had a return on equity of 22.25% and a net margin of 3.54%.The company had revenue of $30.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Target has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.300- EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Target Corporation will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $1.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Target's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 2,053 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.19, for a total value of $240,591.07. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,038.17. The trade was a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Target Company Profile

Target Corporation NYSE: TGT is a U.S.-based general merchandise retailer headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company operates a network of full-line and small-format stores across the United States alongside a national e-commerce platform and mobile app. Target’s retail assortment spans apparel, home goods, electronics, groceries and household essentials, plus beauty, baby and pet categories. The firm complements national brands with a portfolio of owned and exclusive labels and partnerships that help differentiate its merchandise assortment.

Target traces its roots to the Dayton Company, founded by George Dayton in 1902; the Target discount chain was launched in 1962 and the parent company later adopted the Target Corporation name.

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