Baird Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Target Corporation $TGT

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Target Corporation by 20.3%, now holding 518,356 shares valued at approximately $54.1 million.
• Target's recent earnings report showed $2.05 EPS, exceeding consensus estimates, but the company reported a 0.9% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• Analysts have mixed views on Target, with ten rating it as a Buy and twenty-three as Hold, while consensus target price is set at $113.74.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 20.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 518,356 shares of the retailer's stock after selling 132,149 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Target worth $54,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Target during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in Target during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Target during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Target by 951.4% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 389 shares of the retailer's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TGT. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Target from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Target from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Target from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Target from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Target presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $113.74.

Target Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of TGT traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $92.38. The company had a trading volume of 8,471,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,164,570. The company's fifty day moving average price is $102.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Corporation has a one year low of $87.35 and a one year high of $161.50. The company has a market capitalization of $41.97 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16.

Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 20th. The retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.01. Target had a net margin of 3.72% and a return on equity of 23.43%. The firm had revenue of $24.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue 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, equities analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Target's payout ratio is presently 53.15%.

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.