Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC Raises Position in Target Corporation $TGT

Key Points

• Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Target Corporation by 43.8% in Q1, now holding 19,746 shares valued at $2.06 million, making Target its 17th largest holding.
• Insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 Target shares for $4.33 million, reducing his holdings by 15.44% to approximately 246,453 shares.
• Target's quarterly earnings fell short of expectations, reporting $1.30 EPS against an estimate of $1.65, with revenue down 2.8% year-over-year.

Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 43.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,746 shares of the retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 6,011 shares during the period. Target makes up approximately 1.7% of Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Target were worth $2,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 407.8% during 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 buying an additional 12,825,586 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 1,364.3% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,289,692 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $343,312,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065,035 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the first quarter valued at approximately $186,361,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Target by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,968,037 shares of the retailer's stock worth $536,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Target by 35.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,370,062 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $560,420,000 after buying an additional 1,406,653 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Citigroup raised their price objective on Target from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Target from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Target from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Target in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Target from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.74.

Target Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE TGT traded up $1.9280 on Friday, hitting $98.9880. 13,658,170 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,152,688. Target Corporation has a 12 month low of $87.35 and a 12 month high of $161.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $44.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.54, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $102.06 and a 200-day moving average of $103.85.

Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The retailer reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.01. Target had a return on equity of 23.43% and a net margin of 3.72%.The company had revenue of $24.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Target has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Target's payout ratio is presently 50.11%.

Insider Activity at Target

In related news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 246,453 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,703,849.54. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.