Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers food assortments, including perishables, dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items; apparel, accessories, home décor products, electronics, toys, seasonal offerings, food, and other merchandise; and beauty and household essentials. It also provides in-store amenities, such as Target Café, Target Optical, Starbucks, and other food service offerings. The company sells its products through its stores; and digital channels, including Target.com. As of March 09, 2022, the company operated approximately 2,000 stores. Target Corporation was incorporated in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages recently commented on TGT. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Target from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Target from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Target from $255.00 to $190.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Target to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Target from $188.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $191.23.
Target Trading Down 1.3 %
NYSE:TGT opened at $173.05 on Friday. Target has a 52 week low of $137.16 and a 52 week high of $268.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $154.13 and a 200 day moving average of $189.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.03.
Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 17th. The retailer reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.33). Target had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 44.75%. The firm had revenue of $26.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Target Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 17th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 16th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. This is a boost from Target's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Target's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.82%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Target news, insider John J. Mulligan sold 45,490 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.98, for a total value of $6,367,690.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 157,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,023,473.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.