New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 583,897 shares of the retailer's stock after buying an additional 4,100 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.13% of Target worth $60,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 101.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer's stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,480 shares of the retailer's stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA grew its position in shares of Target by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 31,708 shares of the retailer's stock worth $4,286,000 after purchasing an additional 14,746 shares in the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of Target by 52.9% during the fourth quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 5,240 shares of the retailer's stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $4,328,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 246,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,703,849.54. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TGT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America lowered Target from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Target from $112.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group set a $110.00 price target on Target and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $116.70.

Target Trading Down 0.5%

TGT opened at $104.26 on Monday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $97.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.45. The company has a market capitalization of $47.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.22. Target Corporation has a 52 week low of $87.35 and a 52 week high of $167.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

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

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Target's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.23%.

Target Company 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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