Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Sells 2,660 Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

Key Points

• Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV reduced its holdings in Target Corporation by 14% in Q1, selling 2,660 shares and ending with 16,363 shares valued at approximately $1.7 million.
• Many hedge funds, including Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. and Pacer Advisors Inc., significantly increased their stakes in Target, with Schwab boosting its holdings by 407.8%.
• Target reported Q1 earnings of $1.30 per share, missing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, with a yield of 4.3%.

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV decreased its holdings in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,363 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 2,660 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV's holdings in Target were worth $1,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 407.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,970,414 shares of the retailer's stock worth $1,666,672,000 after acquiring an additional 12,825,586 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 1,364.3% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,289,692 shares of the retailer's stock worth $343,312,000 after acquiring an additional 3,065,035 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Target in the first quarter worth about $186,361,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,968,037 shares of the retailer's stock worth $536,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,275 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Target by 35.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,370,062 shares of the retailer's stock worth $560,420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,653 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Target in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Target from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Target in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $93.00 price target (down from $105.00) on shares of Target in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $115.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Target Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $102.99 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $46.79 billion, a PE ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $101.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.12. Target Corporation has a 12-month low of $87.35 and a 12-month high of $167.40.

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

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Target's payout ratio is currently 50.11%.

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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