Stephens Inc. AR Has $7.71 Million Holdings in Target Corporation $TGT

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR boosted its Target stake by 362.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 78,393 shares valued at about $7.71 million.
• Target’s stock has seen mixed analyst sentiment: several firms raised price targets, but the overall consensus remains “Hold” with a target price of $119.75.
• The retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $2.44, while revenue came in slightly below estimates; Target also announced a $1.14 quarterly dividend yielding about 3.8%.

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 362.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,393 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 61,455 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Target were worth $7,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Target by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,212,397 shares of the retailer's stock worth $5,690,262,000 after purchasing an additional 286,499 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Target by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,648,065 shares of the retailer's stock worth $3,377,031,000 after purchasing an additional 911,964 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Target by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,051,151 shares of the retailer's stock worth $453,050,000 after purchasing an additional 122,300 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Target by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,910,163 shares of the retailer's stock worth $350,742,000 after purchasing an additional 360,781 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Target by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,309,746 shares of the retailer's stock worth $296,884,000 after purchasing an additional 25,989 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 2,053 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,423,038.17. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TGT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Target from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Target in a research report on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Target from $63.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Target from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Target from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Target Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of TGT stock opened at $121.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm's 50-day moving average is $122.00 and its 200-day moving average is $108.56. The stock has a market cap of $55.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.93, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.01. Target Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.44 and a 52-week high of $133.10.

Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $30.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.52 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 22.25%. Target's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. Target has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.300- EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Target Corporation will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be issued a $1.14 dividend. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. Target's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.09%.

About Target

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.